Foster Care Horror: Toddler Killed, Incinerated by Foster Parents

By Linda Orlando

An Ohio couple who reported that their developmentally disabled 3-year-old son had vanished have now been charged with causing his death and covering up the crime. The resulting investigation has raised serious questions and opened a further investigation into the agency that handled the placement, Lifeway for Youth.

A massive search by volunteers began on August 15 when David and Liz Carroll called police to report that their foster son, Marcus Fiesel, was missing. Liz Carroll told investigators that she had taken Marcus to a park in Cincinnati that day, but she had unexpectedly passed out because of a heart condition, and when she came to, the child was gone. At a news conference that afternoon, she insisted that several people had seen her at the park with her son, but no witnesses came forward to verify her story. But she also mentioned at the news conference that detectives had informed her husband that he had failed a lie-detector test.

Marcus had been placed in the Carrolls' care in April because he had been found wandering in the street the night of April 22. The boy was removed from the care of his birth mother and the Carrolls were paid $1,000 a month to care for him. Marcus was developmentally delayed and suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He had the mental capacity of a 12- to 18-month old.

A week after the Carrolls reported Marcus missing, police called off an intense search for him after helicopters, infrared devices, search dogs, and hundreds of volunteers had turned up no sign of the boy. As time went by, authorities grew suspicious of the Carrolls, and a break in their investigation led to the horrific truth that they had feared. Officials learned that the couple left their Union Township rental home the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 4, for Liz Carroll's family reunion in Williamstown, Ky., leaving Marcus in a small closet inside a playpen-type crib with no food or water, just an electric fan. "They intentionally left him there," said Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters. The Carrolls returned home early Sunday morning—two days later—to find Marcus dead. "It really is one of the most heartless things I've ever seen," Deters said. "The bottom line is you wouldn't treat a dog like this."

David Carroll then took Marcus' body to an abandoned house in Brown County and burned it in a two-story stone chimney, all that’s left of a burned-down home that hasn’t been occupied since the 1960s. The owner of the 88-acre estate where the house is located, Mike Cales, told reporters that he had given detectives from three counties permission to collect evidence from around the area. "The fields have grown up all around it," Cales said. Cales, whose home is on the opposite side of the property from the chimney, said that his family never smelled any smoke, but he did smell smoke when he went with investigators to show them the chimney. Prosecutors say they believe the boy's body was burned in Brown County and the remains were later dumped in or near the Ohio River.

A Hamilton County grand jury indicted the Carrolls on charges of involuntary manslaughter and two charges of child endangering, one for putting Marcus' safety at risk, the other for excessive restraint over a prolonged period of time. David Carroll also was charged with gross abuse of a corpse for burning the body. Deters said those charges are preliminary, "to keep them in custody" during the investigation. A woman who lived with the Carrolls could also be prosecuted, and Deters said more serious charges are expected. "We believe everyone was aware. Everyone covered up," Deters said. Liz Carroll, 30, could face up to 23 years in prison. David Carroll Jr. could face up to 24 years in prison.

The investigation of the Carrolls has turned up disturbing and shocking information about Lifeway for Youth, the private non-profit agency who placed little Marcus in the home. According to Deters, the Carrolls "should never have had a child like this in their custody." A caseworker from Lifeway who was supposed to visit Marcus Fiesel weekly tried to see the boy at his Clermont County home five days before he was reported missing, but was turned away at the door because Liz Carroll said Marcus was sick. The caseworker didn’t press to see Marcus. Dawn Grady, a spokeswoman for Butler County’s children services board, told the media, "There would be absolutely no reason to assume that there was any problem. They had been seeing Marcus weekly in the home, and there were no red flags associated with the family."

But facts unearthed in the days after the arrests of the Carrolls show that Lifeway, a faith-based organization that operates in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Virginia, had plenty of red flags even before placing Marcus in the home. David Carroll is bipolar, according to his wife, and he was arrested in June for a domestic violence charge that was later dismissed. Friends, family, and law enforcement also say that Amy Baker, 25, is a live-in girlfriend of David’s who has lived with the couple six months or possibly more. A family friend told reporters that David was seeing Amy quite a bit behind Liz’s back, and eventually Amy moved into the house.

Grady said the Butler county children services board knew only what Lifeway told them about the Carrolls' background, which includes a profile of the family and a copy of the state foster-care license, but not their criminal background checks, health records, and other details required to obtain the license. County caseworkers don’t typically meet the families until Lifeway delivers the child to the home. Butler County is now double-checking the safety of 116 children it has placed in foster homes through Lifeway, although Grady said the county agency has not quit using Lifeway. Clermont County officials have removed eight children from Lifeway families, and dropped the nonprofit company from its list of foster-care recruiters.

Lifeway officials refuse to answer media inquiries about any of their placements or the Carrolls' role as foster parents. But former employees have told reporters that Lifeway gets paid for the number of children it places, and the money is all the organization cares about, placing children as quickly as possible with whoever will take them. One former caseworker said she was given 76 clients in her first month on her job. State officials also are now investigating Lifeway's handling of Marcus' placement with the Carrolls—but it’s too late for little Marcus.