TOP STORIES OF 2007: Christopher Barrios

For a week in March, hundreds searched the woods and fields near Brunswick for 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr.

They waded in ditches, pushed through briars and thickets looking for a little boy who had disappeared March 8 while playing in Canal Mobile Home Park. Those who couldn't search helped feed those who could and many who couldn't do either prayed.

Christopher's smiling face was on T-shirts, posters and national TV until a state Department of Natural Resources law enforcement officer spotted a black plastic bag in woods two miles away. Christopher's body was inside.

Glynn County police said Christopher had been abducted by a family of three that lived in a mobile home on a worn footpath between the homes of Christopher's grandmother and father.

Convicted child molester George Edenfield, 34, and his parents, David Edenfield, 58, and Peggy Edenfield, 57, are charged with malice murder in his death. A family friend, Donald Dale, also is charged with concealing a death and tampering with evidence.

What's next

Court proceedings against George Edenfield and Dale are on hold until experts determine their mental competency.

To escape the death penalty, Peggy Edenfield has agreed to testify against her husband and son when they go to trial.

Christopher's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, has made every court appearance and pledged to do all she can to make sure all four get the worst possible punishment.

"Every child should be free to play outside without being preyed on by monsters," she said.