Marcus Fiesel

Marcus Fiesel spent the first three years of his life with his mother Donna Trevino (née Fiesel) and his two siblings, Michael and Peaches, in Middletown, Ohio. He was described by a neighbor as "an awesome little guy" who loved flowers, Bob the Builder, and bubbles. According to friends, he had autism and attended a school for special needs children.

Fiesel was a very active child, and his mother found him difficult to cope with. A neighbor said she occasionally saw Trevino weeping with exhaustion.

Trevino also was suffering from domestic violence at the hands of her boyfriend, which led to frequent calls to the police. During these visits, police officers noticed that the home was infested with fleas and reeked of feces.

On September 29, 2005, police observed severe bruising on Fiesel's left buttock. The family was also being investigated by child welfare workers, who had received complaints of abuse.

In January 2006, Fiesel crawled out of his second-story window and fell off the roof, resulting in a cut to his chin that required stitches.

In April 2006, Fiesel was found wandering the streets and was almost hit by a car. Trevino told police that "she didn't know if she could care for her children any more and that it was getting to be too much for her."She handed them over to Butler County.

Lifeway for Youth, a private agency contracted by the state foster care system, placed Fiesel in the care of foster parents Liz and David Carroll. At the time, they did not realize that David Carroll has bipolar disorder and that a third adult, Amy Baker, said to be David and Liz Carroll's girlfriend, was living in the home. David Carroll's psychological condition would have disqualified him as a foster parent if known. In June, 2006, David Carroll was arrested on a domestic violence charge that was later dismissed. He did not report the arrest to Lifeway, as required.

Family and friends said that David Carroll did not like Fiesel and was jealous of his "constant" need for attention from Liz Carroll and Baker. At one point he left his wife because he wasn't sure he wanted a life with her raising foster children. When he moved back in with his wife, he brought Baker with him.

Fiesel's incinerated remains were discovered on an 88 acre estate owned by Mike Cales in Brown County, Ohio. Police said that Liz and David Carroll had left Fiesel locked in a closet, bound with a blanket and packing tape,while they attended a family reunion in Williamstown, Kentucky August 4-August 6, 2006. This was confirmed by Liz Carroll in testimony before a grand jury on August 28, 2006; she claimed, "I didn't have any intentions of hurting him." Fiesel was left without food or water, but authorities believed he was killed by heat rather than dehydration or starvation, as temperatures in the closet may have reached 105-110°F. They found him dead when they returned home. Authorities believed it was David Carroll and Amy Baker who incinerated Fiesel's body. Amy Baker was granted immunity in Ohio in return for testimony, but is currently facing extradition from Ohio to Kentucky for a Tampering with Evidence charge against her brought up by Mason County, Kentucky. Amy Baker confessed to helping to dispose of the body in the Ohio River.