Edward James

Art from Death Row, Raiford, Florida

On September 19, 1993, James attended a party a few blocks from where he was renting a room from victim, Betty Dick. Throughout the night he consumed several bills, took 10 hits of LSD and drank gin.

When James returned to his room at Betty Dick's house he attacked Betty's grand-daughter, 8-year-old Toni Neuner. He strangled her than raped her and left her for dead.

He then went to Betty Dick's bedroom with the intention of having sexual intercourse with her. He hit the back of Betty’s head with a candlestick and she woke up screaming. Betty’s screams woke Wendi Neuner who came to the doorway of her grandmother’s bedroom where she witnessed James using a small knife to stab Betty. James saw Wendi and he grabbed her and tied her up before putting her in the bathroom.

James did not think that Betty was dead, so he went to the kitchen to get a butcher knife and returned with the knife to stab Betty in the back. James took off the bottoms of Betty´s pajamas, but did not sexually batter her.

James took a shower, with Wendi still in the bathroom, to remove the blood that covered him. He then gathered some belongings and clothes from his room and took Betty´s purse and jewelry bag from her room. In Betty´s car, he then drove across the country, stopping occasionally to sell some of Betty´s jewelry. James was arrested in Bakersfield, California, on October 6, 1993, and he then gave two confessions that were videotaped.

The autopsy that was performed on Toni revealed that she died as a result of strangulation, but was still alive at the time of the rape. The expert could not determine whether or not Toni was conscious while she was being raped. Betty was stabbed 21 times and died as a result of massive blood loss within a few minutes of the attack.

E.J announcement HERE

Write to Edward at :
Edward James # 969121
Union Correctional Institute
PO Box 221 ~ P22145-A1
Raiford, Florida, 32083