He was going door to door alone - a practice discouraged by most fund-raising groups - and sales were going so well he was flashing a $200 wad of bills to friends.
Yesterday, prosecutors said, Edward was a victim of his own success, killed for his money by a 15-year-old boy who answered the sixth grader's knock on the door.
They say Edward was brought inside the home, sexually assaulted and strangled. The older boy then dragged the boy's 4-foot-11 inch, 60 pound body into the woods.
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| AP PHOTO Adorned with a flower, a poster for 11 year old Eddie Werner is attached to a stop sign at the end of his street in Jackson Township, NJ. Werner was found dead in the woods near his home Monday night. |
Door-to-door selling is discouraged by the national PTA, the child's school district, youth organizations, as well as the multibillion-dollar industry that puts products into the hands of a juvenile sales force.
Instead, the groups suggest children sell to relatives, friends or close neighbors and have parents sell to co-workers.
"The case serves as a reminder to all of us that we must be ever vigilant with the care and guidance of our children," said Ocean County Prosecutor David Millard. "Even in what are otherwise the safest neighborhoods, the potential for harm to our children is ever present."
Edward's body - with the footprint of a sneaker in his back - was found by tracking dogs Monday night, two days after he disappeared. His body was just a few blocks from his home in Jackson Township, an area of middle class homes and tidy yards along the central New Jersey coast.
Millard described the meeting between Werner and the suspect as a chance encounter because the two didn't know each other.
Millard would not say what led to the arrest or whether the suspect had a record.
The suspect's parents cooperated with investigators and the boy surrendered to police. He was being held in a juvenile detention center and prosecutors will decide within 30 days whether to try him as an adult. New Jersey has the death penalty, but it is not used against juveniles.
Edward was among the legions of children around the nation involved in fund raising, a fact that annoys some.
The policy for all PTAs in the nation states that "children should never be exploited or used as fund-raisers," said Maryann Kolbeck, president of the New Jersey PTA. "No child should ever sell, ever."
Groups such as the Girl Scouts of America have rules that an adult should accompany a girl selling or delivering cookies.
The Association of Fund Raisers and Direct Sellers, a trade group representing about half of the estimated 1,500 companies that deal with school and youth groups, adopted a policy last July saying it does not endorse door to door sales, said executive director Russell Lemieux.
"That's really the bulk of sales in fund raising," Lemieux said. "The instance of a child going door to door is quite rare."
The association's estimates suggest that schools and nonprofit groups make $2 billion a year in profits from product sales, Lemieux said. He said the need to raise money for children's activities, whether it be band uniforms or class trips, will not go away.
"Fund raising is not new, but as budgets get tight the demand has increased. There's not too many schools that can't afford to fund raise today," Lemiuex said. "Without it, today, a lot of necessities don't get purchased by schools."
A spokeswoman for the National Association of Elementary School Principals said the organization is "totally against" door to door sales, but conceded the decision lies with each school.
Jackson Township school district spokeswoman Stephanie Yusko said the sales kits issued to Edward and other children participating in the PTA sale included warnings to sell only to "family, friends and neighbors with whom you are familiar."
The school district suspended fund raisers because of the killing.
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