An ABC television network is apologizing for a grim error in which they used the photo of a murdered 6-year-old boy in a recent episode of a soap opera, a Jacksonville, Fla., news station is reporting.
According to News4Jax.com, a photo of Christopher Barrios, a Georgia boy who was brutally raped, tortured and ultimately killed after his kidnapping in 2007, was used as a prop on SOAPnet’s show “General Hospital: Night Shift.”
In the scene from “General Hospital,” actor Billy Dee Williams plays a hospital worker who receives a letter and a photo from an abandoned son. The photo used was of Barrios, News4 said.
Barrios’ grandmother, Sue Rodriquez, cried as she expressed outrage at the network for using the photo, which was circulated to media outlets during the search for the boy without the family’s permission, News4 said.
“First, who gave them permission to use his picture? Second, I’m glad I don’t watch this kind of mess – soap operas – because if I had seen Christopher’s picture on there, I would have gone nuts,” Rodriquez told News4Jax.
ABC apologized for the error, said they removed the photo and vowed to air a series of public service announcements in Barrios’ honor in the next few weeks, News4 reported.
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