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Mother Sues State, Trailer Park Over Son's Death

POSTED: Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Georgia family that lost the little boy it loves is now divided over a lawsuit filed in connection with his slaying.

The lawsuit centers around 6-year-old Christopher Barrios whose body was found discarded on the side of a South Georgia road on March 15, 2007.

A year ago, volunteers and police were scouring the woods in Brunswick holding out hope they would find Christopher alive. They did not.

Police have charged three members of the Edenfield family, George Edenfield, along with his parents, Peggy and David Edenfield, with the child's slaying.

The suspects lived near the mobile home where the child lived with his father in Brunswick. However, Christopher's mother, LaTrina Keith, said that should not have been the case and she has filed a lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which was filed in court this week, calls for the owners of the Canal Mobile Home Park to pay up for the boy's death.

The suit states that the owners knew the trailer park was home to convicted child molesters and other persons who could harm young children.

The lawsuit said the owners knew George Edenfield was a convicted sex offender and that management had received numerous complaints about the man.

"You have duty as a land owner who is charging people to provide a safe premises in which people live. The Edenfields hardly constitute providing a safe premises for a little child to walk around in," said Keith's attorney, Brent Savage.

However, that is not the portion of the lawsuit that has upset Christopher's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez. She said the second part of the lawsuit is against the Georgia Department of Children and Family Services for placing Christopher with his dad, who the lawsuit said is a registered sex offender.

"I'm mad. I don’t care that she sues the trailer park -- that's on her. But, don’t talk trash about my son. He was a man, and a good man. She better not talk trash about my baby," Rodriguez said.

Neither the state nor the trailer park owner wanted to comment on the lawsuit.

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