Northmont vs. St. Ignatius
Carlisle vs. Brookville
Beavercreek vs. Carroll
Friends lend comfort to boy's mother
Indictments against foster parents and accusations of their role in his death stuns, and angers residents.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
MIDDLETOWN — Family, friends and church members gathered at Donna Trevino's home here Monday afternoon, hoping to comfort the woman who just learned her biological 3-year-old son was dead.
Emotions ranged from anger to pain to disbelief that Marcus Fiesel died after being locked in a closet Aug. 4 by his foster parents, Liz and David Carroll, in their Clermont County home, while they went to a family reunion in Williamsburg, Ky.
Extras
Then his body was burned somewhere in Brown County to cover up the crime, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said.
They didn't leave him in the closet accidentally, Deters said. "They were well aware of his presence in the closet."
They restrained him, Deters said, declining to describe how.
When a social worker came to their house to see Marcus on Aug. 10, she was told the boy was ill and was turned away, Deters said.
The foster parents didn't report Marcus missing from a park in suburban Cincinnati until about 1:15 p.m. on Aug. 15, just 45 minutes before they were scheduled to meet with the social worker again. Liz Carroll told authorities she collapsed in the park because of a medical condition.
"How could anyone do something like this to a child?" asked Teri Cavolt, Trevino's friend. "I think they ought to do to them what they did to Marcus; I hate to say it, but that is how I feel," Cavolt said.
She said Trevino, as well as her boyfriend, Harry Cowgill, are in shock.
The Carrolls were charged Monday with involuntary manslaughter. David Carroll is accused of burning the child's body.
Marcus was placed with the Carrolls in May after authorities in Butler County were called in at least twice because of concerns about his safety when he lived with Trevino. He accidentally fell from a two-story window in January and on April 22, a woman said she found him wandering the street after he was almost hit by a car, Middletown police said.
The Rev. Don Shepherd, the pastor of Healing Word Assembly of God, where Trevino is a member, said it was "Just terribly, terribly sad."
Deters said he sought the indictments Monday to get the Carrolls in custody and to let the public know that they can stop looking for the child.
The cases could play out in Clermont County, since that is where Marcus died. Deters and Clermont County Prosecutor Don White will have to work out in which jurisdiction they'll be prosecuted. White said he expected they would make that decision in a few days.
Butler County Children Services contracted with Lifeway for Youth, a private organization that provides training for foster parents and placement for abused and neglected children, to place the child with the Carrolls.
Michael Berner, director of the Sharonville-based organization, told Cincinnati's WCPO-TV that Lifeway performed background and police checks on the Carrolls.
"We're all heartbroken up here," Berner said. "These people passed muster; they pulled the wool over everyone's eyes."
Information from
Cincinnati PostStaff Writer Kevin Eigelbach and The Associated Press is included in this report.
