Clermont County to
handle most serious charges in child's death
TERRY KINNEY
September 1, 2006
Associated Press
CINCINNATI
- The most serious charges against the
foster parents of a 3-year-old who died in their
care will be prosecuted in the neighboring county
where the boy is believed to have died, prosecutors
said Friday.
Liz and David Carroll
Jr. will remain in the Hamilton County jail in
Cincinnati, where they are being held on $10.1
million bond each until indictments are obtained in
Clermont County.
"We're ready to do
our job," Clermont County Prosecutor Don White said.
Prosecutors say the
Carrolls bound Marcus Fiesel in a blanket and
packing tape and left him in a closet in their home
east of Cincinnati when they went to a family
reunion in Kentucky on Aug. 4.
The boy was dead when
the Carrolls returned in two days, and David Carroll
burned the boy's body at a remote site in another
county, possibly dumping some remains in the Ohio
River, prosecutors said.
White said he will
take the case to a grand jury on Wednesday. He is
seeking tougher charges against the couple,
currently accused of involuntary manslaughter.
"Our goal is to
ensure that Liz and David Carroll spend the rest of
their lives in jail," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe
Deters said.
Assistant prosecutors
from Hamilton and Clermont counties will work
together on the case, Deters said.
He handled initial
indictments against the couple, but the prosecutors
agreed that Clermont County was the more logical
place to prosecute the most serious charges. Other
charges will stay in Hamilton County where the
couple is accused in a scheme to cover-up the boy's
death.
Messages seeking
comment were left Friday at the offices of attorney
Adam Bleile, who is representing Liz Carroll, and
attorney Scott Rubenstein, David Carroll's lawyer.
Barb Riley, the
director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family
Services, has called for an investigation of the
handling of the case by the state, Butler County and
Lifeway for Youth, the private placement agency.
Lifeway said in a
document detailing the case that its staff did
everything it could to ensure the child was
receiving proper care. Lifeway said the Carrolls had
asked for permission to take Fiesel to the reunion.
A case manager
visited the Carrolls' home Aug. 10, and was told by
Liz Carroll that the boy was asleep, the agency
said. The case manager reported that she didn't
press to see the child, but Liz Carroll didn't
discourage her from looking in on him.
The agency said it
did not know about David Carroll's domestic violence
charge in June, which was later dismissed. The
agency requires all criminal charges to be reported
by the foster parents.
Liz Carroll has said
her husband's charge stemmed from his bipolar
disorder, but a physician who examined the Carrolls
did not note the disorder on their medical forms,
Lifeway said.
Also, the couple did
not report to the agency that any other adults were
living in the house, Lifeway said, although
authorities have said another woman was living
there.
The couple pleaded
not guilty Wednesday to all charges in Hamilton
County Common Pleas Court. Both were indicted on
charges of involuntary manslaughter, child
endangerment, making false alarms and inducing
panic. David Carroll also was indicted on a charge
of gross abuse of a corpse, and Liz Carroll on two
counts of perjury.
Liz Carroll told
investigators on Aug. 15 that the boy wandered off
when a heart condition caused her to faint in a
suburban Cincinnati park, and hundreds of volunteers
joined authorities in searching for several days.
In the meantime,
David Carroll made repeated attempts to burn the
boy's body, Deters said.
Bags of evidence were
recovered at the site in rural Brown County and were
taken to the Hamilton County coroner for DNA
testing. Deters said the coroner's office has
confirmed that human remains were found in a chimney
at that site.
Divers continue to
search the Ohio River for other remains.
