Father of UC Berkeley slaying suspect says his son was attacked by fraternity members
Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, was arrested by police Saturday morning in connection with the stabbing death of Christopher Wootton, 21, on the university's fraternity row.
BERKELEY — The young man accused of stabbing a UC Berkeley student to death told his father he was under attack by a crowd of fraternity members and did not know how the fatal wound occurred, the father said in an interview Sunday.
Andrew Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, was arrested Saturday morning in the slaying of Christopher Wootton, 21, during an altercation on the university's fraternity row. The suspect then fled the scene.
Hoeft-Edenfield was arrested at a friend's house in Oakland after the alleged murder weapon was found by Berkeley police, who say he later confessed to killing Wootton, a nuclear engineering student from Bellflower.
But in an interview outside Hoeft-Edenfield's apartment Sunday, a man identifying himself as the young man's father said that his son had been chased down by fraternity brothers after an angry exchange early Saturday morning.
William Edenfield said his son was trying to evade his attackers, but "they kept coming. He ended up getting stomped." Someone helped Hoeft-Edenfield up and "he said at some point someone was stabbed. He didn't know how it happened."
According to his father, Hoeft-Edenfield did have a knife, but "he said he threw the knife some place" after the attack. Edenfield, who said he is divorced from the young man's mother, spoke to his son Saturday.
"Lots of questions need answering," Edenfield said. "This is incomprehensible. I thought we were going car hunting Saturday morning. And instead I get a call from city jail."
tim.reiterman@latimes.com
maria.laganga@latimes.com
