Foster parents plead not guilty to murder

September 7, 2006
BATAVIA, Ohio (AP)

An Ohio couple who reported their developmentally disabled foster son missing pleaded not guilty Thursday to new murder charges in the 3-year-old's death, which prosecutors say happened after he was bound and left in a closet.

Clermont County Judge Jerry McBride set bond at $10.1 million for both Liz and David Carroll Jr., the same amount they were held on after they were first charged in neighboring Hamilton County. A Clermont County grand jury Wednesday indicted the Carrolls on the new charges, which also include kidnapping, involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault and three counts of endangering children.

The Carrolls signed written pleas of not guilty to all charges in separate arraignments.

Prosecutors have said the Carrolls wrapped up Marcus Fiesel in a blanket and packing tape, left him in the closet and went to a family reunion in Kentucky in August. The boy was dead when the Carrolls returned two days later, authorities said.

The couple reported Aug. 15 that the boy had gone missing from a public park. For four days, hundreds of searchers helped authorities look for the boy. The Carrolls were arrested in Hamilton County Aug. 28.

Prosecutors in both counties agreed to seek the more serious charges in Clermont County because they believe that is where the boy died. David Carroll, 29, is accused of burning the body and was indicted on a count of gross abuse of a corpse.

The murder count carries a sentence of 15 years to life. With convictions on other charges, the Carrolls each could face sentences of about 35 years to life, Assistant Clermont County Prosecutor Woody Breyer said.

Public Defender Dan Hannon represented the Carrolls at the arraignment Thursday. He said his office would request that other attorneys be appointed to represent them because of a conflict of interest. He would not say what the conflict is.

The Carrolls earlier pleaded not guilty in Hamilton County to all charges there at a hearing that filled the courtroom with spectators, including many with no direct ties to the case.

Hamilton County authorities still intend to prosecute the couple on charges of inducing panic and false alarms. Liz Carroll, 30, also was charged with two counts of perjury in Hamilton County.

Authorities have said the Carrolls took in the special needs child to reap the payments for his foster care.

"If they weren't in it for the money, they could have given that child back," Breyer said.

The boy's birth mother, Donna Trevino, filed a $5 million wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday in Butler County against the Carrolls, Butler County authorities and Lifeway for Youth Inc., the agency that placed the child with the Carrolls. Amy Baker, a woman who lived with the Carrolls and has been credited with helping investigators, also is a defendant in the lawsuit but has not been charged.

The boy and two other children were removed from Trevino's Middletown home in April after allegations of neglect.

Ohio and Butler County officials have launched investigations into the handling of the case.

Lifeway has said the Carrolls lied about their backgrounds and living arrangements and didn't report a domestic violence charge against David Carroll in June as required. That charge was dismissed.

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