At the age of four,
Charles J Stecker Jr. held his brother Eddie, who
was almost three years old, in his arms, as he
died. Charles Jr. and Eddie were in foster care in
the home of Lillian Bedford and a short 13 days
after arriving, Eddie was dead. Having been taken
away from their biological parents, three siblings
who had been abused were placed in a foster care
and the system would fail Eddie in a big way.
Eddie's
death
is reported as being the first death of a child
who was in foster care. Lillian Bedford was never
prosecuted for what she did to Eddie and even had
another child die in her care just 10 months
before the Stecker boys were placed in her care.
Records say that Lillian was sent to a mental
hospital by order of Judge Stanley M. Greenberg,
though this has not been confirmed due to patient
confidentiality.
Eddie's
biological
mother was named Marie Stecker, she had married a
man named Charles J Stecker Sr who
was a cook in the Coast Guard. At the age
of 21, she gave birth to their fist child,
Charles, then to Eddie and
the last child was a girl named Donna.
Marie would turn out to be a mother who abused her
children and the Department Of Human Services
became involved after several visits to the
hospital. Years later Marie would say that the
reports were false and that she was tricked by
Charles Sr. into signing papers giving up custody
of her son. Marie insisted that she had not abused
her son and that a fracture to his skull happened
when he fell. Marie would admit to abuse, though
she claimed she was not the only one who had taken
part, that Charles had also neglected the
children.
The
three
children were placed into a temporary foster home
and on February 15, 1967, Charles and Eddie were
taken from that home and placed in the care of
Donald and Lillian Bedford. Donald was 45 years
old at that time and Lillian was 42 years old.
Donald and Lillian had been married for 13 years
and did not have any biological children. Their
home presented well with toys and a place for the
boys to sleep and the couple would be paid $48 a
week to care for the brothers.
As
an adult, Charles would state that when Donald was
home with the family, everything was fine,
however, when the children were alone with her,
Lillian would change into a different person who
scared them. When the boys would cry around her,
she would hit them. Lillian would do things to
scare the boys on purpose, such as hiding behind
things and grabbing their ankles and yelling that
she was the boogeyman. Charles told of their heads
being held under water, being beaten with sticks,
taking scalding hot baths and says that Lillian
was an evil person.
Just
13
days after moving into the home of the Bedford's,
Eddie was beaten to death and Charles was
suffering
from a broken arm. The medical examiner at that
time was Dr. Joseph Spelman and he reported that
there were
bruises on Eddie's body that were consistent with
a child who had been physically abused even before
he was
given the beating that ended his life, possibly
even for days before he died.
Lillian
told
police that Eddie had fallen out of his crib.
Charles told the police that his new mommy had hit
his little brother and Lillian was arrested for
involuntary manslaughter and assault. Donald
seemed to miss his wife and stated he loved his
wife and they had wanted children of their own:
"Believe
it
or not, she's a damned fine woman and I wish you
could have seen how wonderful
she was with the kids. She had a nursery school
class at our church and the things she did
with the children were just terrific"
Donald Bedford
Donald,
though
he was angry with Lillian for what she had done,
stuck by her side and hired a lawyer for her.
Donald hired A Charles Peruto Sr who was, at that
time, reported to be a great lawyer. The Welfare Commissioner
at that time was Randolf E. Wise and he was
reported to say that Eddie's death was the first
of it's kind in the history of the foster care
program.
Even
before
what happened to Eddie and Charles, the couple was
given a foster child by the name of Brent "Chuck"
Garcia in April of 1966. Brent died while in the
care of the couple and was found to have severe
bruising on his scalp. Unfortunately, the cause of
his death was not determined and Lillian was able
to get away with saying he had fallen off of a
rocking horse. Since the Medical Examiner could
not prove that the child had been abused, a letter
went to the Welfare Department saying that the
Bedford's were cleared to be remain as foster
parents and ten months later, Charles and Eddie
were living with them. Eddie's biological father
would be the one to tell Charles that his brother
Eddie, had died.
Charles
and
Donna were then moved to another foster home.
Charles would be moved around to other places
and eventually would return to the home of his
biological mother who would abuse him physically
and verbally. Marie denies these accusations to
this day. When Charles turned 19, he joined the
Coast Guard, married twice and had one child.
Charles
is actively trying to figure out what happened
to his brother.
My
Brother

One of us lays here in peace now
The other one stands here in pain
And I know your battles have ended
But my worries just under way
One I can't fight
My brother, I miss you tonight
One of us lays here sleeping
The other one is dying for sleep
I only wish we could trade places
Then it would be you on you knees
I can't make this right
My brother, I miss you tonight
And tomorrow
And forever
Until I fall to your right
My brother
I miss you tonight
I can't make this right
My brother, I miss you tonight
And tomorrow
And forever
Until I fall to your right
My brother
I miss you tonight
One of our bodies is resting
The other one tends in despair
And I've looked to the clouds
For some answers
And cried while the Earth
Holds you there
Six feet from light
My brother
I miss you tonight
My brother
I miss you tonight
My brother
I miss you tonight
My brother
I miss you
This life
Written and sung by:
Chuck Defontes for Eddie
Listen to this beautiful, heartbreaking song,
here: My Brother
Facebook Page
In reading
further, I have discovered that Charlie's
sister, Donna, has chosen not to join him in
his journey to
remember,
honor and find out the facts behind Eddie's
death. I do not condemn her for that
decision, we each have
to live our way and walk our own path.
I do want
to say that I am proud of the way Charlie is
going about what he is doing. Choosing the
path he has and
honoring Eddie this way is a wonderful thing
in my opinion. It can't be an easy road,
Charlie is following his heart
and I know Eddie would also be proud of him!
Below, Charles visits the grave of Eddie who
is buried along side of his grandfather and
grandmother.
Please take
a moment to visit this page and possibly buy
this book that was written by:
Jim Hofmann, O.R. Rutledge and Charles J.
Stecker.
"Three
forgotten boys who were abused and then
murdered - Eddie Stecker,
The Boy in the Box and Lattie McGee, are
memorialized in this work about love,
friendship and child abuse awareness"
Lattie McGee and Doctor
Gotfriend
For information
about how to report child abuse,
please click the link below and you
will be taken to a page that has an
alphabetical,
state by state listing of how to
report child abuse for which state
you are looking for and for some
other countries.
Visit
my
child abuse
quilt to see
other places
about
preventing
child abuse.
This
page will open
up in a new
window so you
won't lose
your place
while
visiting
the
Angels on my
site.



Call
this
number to
report child
abuse
ANY
WHERE
in
the
United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453

