Eddie James

For the Canadian football player of the same name see Eddie James (Canadian football).

Eddie James (born on August 4, 1961 in Bristol, Pennsylvania) 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.

Biography

James 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. 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 be having blackouts. His mother sought assistance from a mental health counselor; however, his violence and anger continued.

James dropped out of high school in his junior year and joined the army when he was 17. He was stationed in Germany but was soon discharged for "failure to conform". 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.

Murders

On September 20, 1993, James returned home from a party to find Betty Dick's four grandchildren sleeping in the living room. This angered James because he felt that Dick's daughter and the children's mother, Lisa Neuner, was taking advantage of Dick by often asking her to watch the children. He grabbed 8-year-old Toni Neuner by the neck and choked her, then took her to his bedroom and raped her, after which he put her body between his bed and the wall.

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, Wendi, who came to the bedroom. James tied her up and put her in the bathroom. 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.