Eddie James

Last updated

Eddie James
Edward James mugshot.jpg
Born (1961-08-04) August 4, 1961 (age 61)
Criminal statusIncarcerated at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida
Conviction(s) First-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, attempted sexual battery, kidnapping
Criminal penalty Death

Edward Thomas James (born August 4, 1961) [1] is an American murderer and sex offender. His appearance on the national television show America's Most Wanted led to his capture and conviction for the killings of an 8-year-old girl and her grandmother in September 1993.

Contents

Biography

James was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania. [2] He believed his last name was Matlack until the age of 10 when he discovered that the man raising him was his stepfather. At 11, James met and went to live with his biological father, who introduced him to drugs. Ironically, his father was a drug counselor. [3] In his mid-teens, James returned to live with his mother in Casselberry, Florida. His life now revolved around fighting and drugs, and he claimed to have blackouts. His mother sought assistance from a mental health counselor; however, his violence and anger continued. [4]

James dropped out of high school in his junior year and joined the U.S. Army when he was 17. He was stationed in Germany but was soon discharged for "failure to conform." [5] James returned to Casselberry, where he became friends with a man named Tim Dick. James was welcomed into Dick's extended family, and, in the summer of 1993, he rented a room from Dick's mother, Betty. [6] [7]

Murders

On September 20, 1993, James returned home from a party to find Betty Dick's four grandchildren sleeping in the living room. [8] He grabbed 8-year-old Toni Neuner by the neck and strangled her, then took her to his bedroom and raped her, after which he put her body between his bed and the wall. [9] [10]

James proceeded to Dick's bedroom, where he hit her in the head with a candlestick and repeatedly stabbed her with a knife. Dick screamed, waking up Toni's sister, 9-year-old Wendi, who came to the bedroom. [11] James tied Wendi up and put her in the bathroom. [12] He got a butcher knife from the kitchen and returned to Dick's bedroom, sticking the knife in her back. After showering and taking jewelry from Dick's bedroom, James fled in her car. [10]

Apprehension and sentencing

On September 28, 1993, America's Most Wanted (AMW) broadcast information related to the case, resulting in hundreds of viewer phone calls. Several tips indicated that he was traveling west. On October 5, 1993, AMW rebroadcast the details of the case, including this updated information. The next day, a viewer spotted James at the California state unemployment office in Bakersfield and contacted authorities. [9] Once in police custody, he gave two taped statements. [13]

On April 5, 1995, James pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, and one count each of aggravated child abuse, attempted sexual battery, kidnapping, grand theft and grand theft auto. He also pleaded no contest to two counts of capital sexual battery charged by separate information. [14]

On August 18, 1995, James was sentenced to death for the murders of Toni Neuner and Betty Dick, as well sentences ranging from 15 years to life on the other charges. [15] He is incarcerated at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida.

See all

Footnotes

  1. "Inmate Population Information Detail - Edward T. James". Florida Department of Corrections . Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  2. Walsh, p. 4
  3. Walsh, pp. 4-5 "And here's the sick irony: Eddie's dad was a drug counselor. 'Eddie remembered that he made a joke out of how he was a drug counselor, and he did more drugs than the people he was counseling."
  4. Walsh, pp. 5-6
  5. Walsh, p. 6
  6. Walsh, p. 7
  7. Edward James vs. State of Florida, p. 3
  8. Edward James vs. State of Florida, pp. 4-5
  9. 1 2 Walsh
  10. 1 2 Edward James vs. State of Florida, p. 5
  11. Brooks, Mary (October 7, 1993). "'Most Wanted' Eddie James Jailed In California". tribunedigital-orlandosentinel. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
  12. Edward James vs. State of Florida, p. 5 "Appellant turned around and saw Wendi, at which point he grabbed her, tied her up, and placed her in the bathroom. Wendi asked Appellant if he was going to hurt her brothers, and Appellant told her, 'NO, I'm not going to hurt your brother, or I'm not going to hurt you. You've been through enough pain.'"
  13. Edward James vs. State of Florida, p. 6
  14. Edward James vs. State of Florida, p. 1
  15. Edward James vs. State of Florida, p. 2

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Dahmer</span> American serial killer (1960–1994)

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered seventeen males between 1978 and 1991. Many of his later murders involved necrophilia, cannibalism, and the permanent preservation of body parts—typically all or part of the skeleton.

Cheryl Marjorie Blossom is a fictional character of the Archie Comics universe. She is a wealthy teenage girl, the privileged daughter of a businessman. The live action version of Cheryl is portrayed by Madelaine Petsch in Riverdale.

America's Most Wanted is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of its cancellation by the Fox television network in June 2011, it was the longest-running program in the network's history, a mark since surpassed by The Simpsons, although the program was revived ten years later. The show started off as a half-hour program on February 7, 1988. In 1990, the show's format was changed from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. The show's format was reverted to 30 minutes in 1995, and then back to 60 minutes in 1996. A short-lived syndicated spinoff titled America's Most Wanted: Final Justice aired during the 1995–96 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Walsh (television host)</span> American television presenter (born 1945)

John Edward Walsh, Jr. is an American television presenter, criminologist, victims' rights activist, and the host/creator of America's Most Wanted. He is known for his anti-crime activism, with which he became involved following the murder of his son, Adam, in 1981; in 2008, the late serial killer Ottis Toole was officially named as Adam's killer. Walsh was part-owner of the now defunct National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, D.C. He also anchored an investigative documentary series, The Hunt with John Walsh, which debuted on CNN in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Rolling</span> American serial killer (1954–2006)

Daniel Harold Rolling, known as the Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer who murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida over four days in August 1990. He later confessed to raping several of his victims, committing a triple homicide in his home city of Shreveport, Louisiana, and attempting to murder his father in May 1990. In total, Rolling confessed to killing eight people. He was sentenced to death for the five Gainesville murders in 1994. He was executed by lethal injection in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Powell (conspirator)</span> American Confederate Army soldier and assassin (1844–1865)

Lewis Thornton Powell, also known as Lewis Payne and Lewis Paine, was an American Confederate soldier who attempted to assassinate William Henry Seward as part of the Lincoln assassination plot. Wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, he later served in Mosby's Rangers before working with the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland. John Wilkes Booth recruited him into a plot to kidnap Lincoln and turn the president over to the Confederacy, but then decided to assassinate Lincoln, Seward, and Vice President Andrew Johnson instead, and assigned Powell the task to kill Seward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendi Richter</span> American professional wrestler

Victoria "Wendi" Richter is an American former professional wrestler. She began her professional wrestling career in companies such as the National Wrestling Alliance, where she teamed with Joyce Grable, with whom she held the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship twice. In the 1980s, she joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). She held the WWF Women's Championship twice and feuded with The Fabulous Moolah over the title. She was also involved in a storyline with singer Cyndi Lauper called the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection". Richter, however, left the WWF after losing the championship in controversial fashion. She then worked in the World Wrestling Council and American Wrestling Association, where she held both companies' women's titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel Sembler</span> American diplomat (born 1930)

Melvin Floyd Sembler is an American former diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to Italy (2001–2005), and Ambassador to Australia and Nauru (1989–1993). He has also served as chairman of the board of the Sembler Company, which develops and manages shopping centers, and co-founder of Straight, Inc., a controversial drug-treatment center. Sembler is the chairman of the Scooter Libby Legal Defense Trust, and was a co-chair of the Florida Finance Committee for Mitt Romney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Erskine</span> American serial killer

Scott Thomas Erskine was an American serial killer on California's death row, convicted in 2003 for the 1993 murder of two California boys. He was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.

<i>Cosh Boy</i> 1953 film

Cosh Boy is a 1953 British film noir directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring James Kenney and Joan Collins. It was made at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.

<i>The Tell-Tale Heart</i> (1960 film) 1960 British film

The Tell-Tale Heart is a 1960 British horror film directed by Ernest Morris produced by the Danzigers. The screenplay by Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard is a loose adaptation of the 1843 short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. The film was released in England in December 1960, and in the U.S. in February 1962 as The Hidden Room of 1,000 Horrors.

Beau James is a 1957 film based on a non-fiction book of the same name by Gene Fowler. The film stars Bob Hope in a rare dramatic role as Jimmy Walker, the colorful but controversial Mayor of New York City from 1926–32.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brittany Holberg</span> American convicted murderer on death row

Brittany Marlowe Holberg is a woman currently on death row in the U.S. state of Texas. On Friday, March 27, 1998, Holberg was convicted of the November 13, 1996, robbery and murder of 80-year-old A. B. Towery Sr. (1916–1996) in his southwest Amarillo home, and was sentenced to death by 251st state District Judge Patrick Pirtle. The victim had been stabbed nearly 60 times with such weapons as a paring knife, a butcher knife, a grapefruit knife and a fork. He also suffered blunt trauma to the head from a hammer, and a foot-long lamp pole had been shoved more than five inches (127 mm) down his throat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Final Resolution (2005)</span> 2005 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view event

The 2005 Final Resolution was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which took place on January 16, 2005 from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the first annual event under the Final Resolution chronology. Nine matches were featured on the event's card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug Free America Foundation</span> Drug policy organization

The Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by former US Ambassador Mel Sembler, his wife Betty Sembler (née Schlesinger), and Joseph Zappala as Straight, Inc., renamed The Straight Foundation, Inc. in 1985 and Drug Free America Foundation in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joyce Grable</span> American former professional wrestler (born 1952)

Betty Wade-Murphy, better known by her ring name Joyce Grable, is an American former professional wrestler. She was the long-term tag team partner of Wendi Richter. She held the NWA United States Women's Championship once and the NWA Women's World Tag Team Championship six times—three with Richter and three with her other tag team partner Vicki Williams.

<i>The Prussian Cur</i> 1918 American film

The Prussian Cur is a 1918 American anti-German silent propaganda film produced during World War I. Now considered a lost film, it is notable for telling the story of the Crucified Soldier.

<i>Pipe Dream</i> (film) 2002 American film

Pipe Dream is a 2002 romantic comedy film, starring Mary-Louise Parker and Martin Donovan. The film was directed by John C. Walsh, who previously wrote and directed the film Ed's Next Move.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgil Miller Newton</span>

Virgil Miller Newton is a current Chairman and Director of Christ at the Sea Foundation in Madeira Beach, Florida; a priest in the Antiochian Orthodox Church ; and the former Director of several rehabilitation centers for youth with drug problems, behavior problems, eating disorders and other compulsive behavior. His rehabilitative methods have been criticized.

Wendi Elizabeth Andriano is an American female prisoner on death row in Arizona. She was convicted of the 2000 murder of her terminally ill husband, Joe. She is incarcerated at the Lumley Unit in the Arizona State Prison Complex - Perryville. Her inmate number is #191593.

References