KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? As the investigation expanded Friday into the suffocation death of a 9-year-old boy, clergy affiliated with his adoptive parents’ church stressed the case is not related to church teachings as prosecutors have alleged.

Neil and Christy Edgar, leaders of God’s Creation Outreach Ministry, and an acquaintance, Chasity L. Boyd, are charged with murder in Brian Edgar’s death. An autopsy showed the boy’s mouth had been taped shut and something — perhaps a sock — had been stuffed in it before his lifeless body was taken early Monday to a hospital, Wyandotte County Coroner Alan Hancock said.

Wyandotte County Dist. Atty. Nick Tomasic said earlier this week that strict physical discipline was “a teaching of the church,” and that Brian and his three siblings were frequent victims of abuse that involved binding and gagging before bedtime. Tomasic has declined to discuss the case further.

Tomasic did, however, mention a case two years ago in which another member of the church was convicted of abusing his four children with a stun gun at the church youth center.

A Web site describes the church’s ministry as one that helps youths find jobs and teaches them to be independent and responsible for their own actions. It also says the ministry teaches youths “a better self-esteem to overcome serious emotional and educational problems.”

Clifford Jackson, superintendent of the Church of God in Christ’s Pentecostal District Assn., of which God’s Creation is a member, said Friday the church did not teach parents how to chastise their children, but its stance on discipline was based on Proverbs 13:24.

That verse admonishes that the person who spares the rod hates his child but he who loves his child is careful to discipline. Jackson said that discipline begins and ends with training, as Proverbs 22:6 instructs.

“The church does not teach these catastrophic ideas of abusing anybody. Not just children, anybody,” Jackson said. “If something like that happens in a church, it’s the exception and not the rule.”

He said he supported the Edgars and would not rush to judgment.

“I was not there, you were not there,” he said. “The facts remain to be seen.”

Brian Edgar is shown in a photo taken in March 1999 for Kansas Families for Kids. Brian's body was brought early Monday to KU Med in Kansas City, Kan., by his adoptive father, Neil Edgar. Neil and Christy Edgar and an acquaintance, Chasity L. Boyd, are charged with murder in Brian's death.

Prosecutors say Brian Edgar died the night of Dec. 29 at a residence and that the boy had been dead “several hours” before Neil Edgar brought the body to KU Med. Neil Edgar, 47, was arrested and he and his wife, 46, were charged Tuesday. The autopsy also showed signs the boy had vomited and that he had been bound tightly around the chest, Hancock said.

On Thursday night, Tomasic filed a first-degree murder charge against Boyd, 19, whom he described as an acquaintance and possibly a baby sitter for the Edgars.

On Friday, police served a search warrant on a home in Overland Park believed to be owned by the Edgars. The couple and Boyd remained jailed on $2 million bond each. The Edgars’ other children — ages 16, 12 and 9 — were in protective custody.

Reluctant witness

In the 2000 abuse case, Neil Edgar testified as a reluctant state’s witness at the trial of Lee Ray Banks Sr., who was then a member of God’s Creation.

These Wyandotte County Sheriff's photos show, from above, Neil E. Edgar, 47, Christy Edgar, 46, and Chasity L. Boyd, 19. The three are charged with murder in the death of 9-year-old Brian Edgar, the adopted son of Neil and Christy Edgar.

During the trial, Neil Edgar described Banks as his “spiritual son” and said he had no knowledge of the abuse.

“If I would have, I would have corrected him right there,” Edgar testified. “I considered them (Banks’ children) as my grandchildren, and I love them dearly.”

According to a trial transcript, police found a stun gun in Edgar’s desk and a paddle in his office. A police report referred to in the transcript said Edgar told a detective that Banks had a smaller stun gun. But at the trial, Edgar said he did not remember making such a statement.

Banks was sentenced to nearly five years in prison and becomes eligible for parole in December.

Congregational tales

Relatives of some church members have said their loved ones began to act strange after joining the congregation.

Vicynthia Gibson, who says her sister is a member of God’s Creation, told WDAF-TV in Kansas City that her family was concerned when the woman withdrew from the family after joining the church.

“When she started joining that church, her demeanor went down. She started dressing as if she was in second-hand clothing. She started to cut her hair off. She just didn’t look like herself,” Gibson said.

Gibson said that the family informed police about the church but police never got involved.

While members of God’s Creation have denied the congregation teaches the physical discipline of children, it isn’t unheard of for a church to promote such actions. Last year, five members of an independent church in Atlanta, including the pastor, were convicted of aggravated assault and cruelty to children for whipping two boys in front of the congregation.

The church members insisted they have the right to beat their children when they misbehave.

Meanwhile, Jackson said God’s Creation was planning a memorial for Brian. The boy’s death has caused outrage in the community and many who didn’t know Brian brought flowers and stuffed animals to a makeshift memorial for him across from the church.

Bob Moles, who lives one house down from the church, said he often saw children at the church’s youth center and it appeared that they were well looked after by adults.

“I have never heard or seen anything,” he said. “The man (Neil Edgar) has been always kind to me.”