FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) – After charging a lawyer with murder and burglary, town police are now shifting some of their focus on determining whether his 2-year-old daughter was molested by the victim.

The attorney, Jonathon Edington, is accused of stabbing neighbor Barry James, 58, to death on Monday after a family member told him that James had inappropriate contact with the child.

Police said Edington, 29, climbed through James’ bedroom window and stabbed him nearly a dozen times in the chest.

Capt. Gary MacNamara said Thursday that police interviewed Edington’s wife Wednesday night about the claim that her daughter was molested.

“We received a complaint from the mother,” MacNamara said. “We have a report there was some illegal sexual contact made between Mr. James and Mr. Edington’s daughter and we’re investigating that.”

Edington’s attorney, Michael Sherman, said the information came from Edington’s wife. “The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark,” Sherman said.

Edington appeared in court on the charges Tuesday and was released Wednesday after posting $1 million bond.

Peter Ambrose, an attorney for James’ family, said the molestation claim is unsubstantiated.

“There’s nothing that would arouse any suspicion,” Ambrose told The Associated Press Thursday. “It’s totally without precedent. It’s just unfounded. It comes as a complete surprise to his family.”

James’ 87-year-old mother discovered his body. When officers went to Edington’s home a short time later, they found him standing by his kitchen sink with what appeared to be blood on him, authorities said. Officers said a large kitchen knife was next to him on a counter.

“He’s in shock,” Edington’s attorney said. “This is the most unexpected turn of events one can imagine with this young man’s background.”

Police had gone to the neighborhood before, when Edington called to complain that he could see James through a window, police said.

“Either he was partly clothed or revealed parts of his anatomy that were inappropriate,” MacNamara said.

Edington, a graduate of Syracuse University and Fordham University Law School, has been practicing patent law, Sherman said. Police said Edington has no criminal record.

Rita James declined to comment on her son’s death.

Pat Wysocki, a neighbor who has known the James family for 39 years, described Barry James as a “very nice fellow” who worked for a funeral home and said she found it hard to believe he would molest a child.

“But then again, you don’t know,” she said.

James served two days in prison in May 2001 on a drunken driving charge, according to the state Department of Correction.

“He had some bizarre behavior over the last month,” said Darrell Maynard, a neighbor. “He drove his car through his garage, hit the other neighbor’s building.”

Another time a neighbor found James intoxicated on the street, Maynard said. James shouted obscenities at children, he said.

Edington liked to walk his dog with his daughter around the neighborhood, Maynard said.

“He seemed to be a very nice low-key man,” Maynard said. “It seemed like he really loved his daughter. He was really good with her.”

Maynard said his wife heard screams and shouting Monday from the house.

“Something had to happen that was terrible for this to have occurred,” Maynard said. Edington “seemed like a computer geek or something. He was not anybody you would ever feel you were threatened by.”

AP-ES-08-31-06 1628EDT