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.