CINCINNATI — By the time investigators reached the place where the body of Marcus Fiesel was burned last month, all that remained of the 3-year-old former Middletown boy could fit in the palm of his foster father's hand.

Coroner officials said they found 18 bone fragments — all less than an inch long — tiny pieces of body tissue, a button and threads of fabric following multiple attempts to incinerate the small body in a decrepit stone chimney in rural Brown County.

Foster father David Carroll Jr., who faces gross abuse of a corpse along with six other felony charges — including murder — was arraigned with his wife, Liz, Thursday in Clermont County Common Pleas Court, just a few hours before Hamilton County Coroner O'dell Owens released a report that added new details to the month-long case.

Lawyers for the Carrolls, of Union Twp., pleaded not guilty to what officials have labeled a drawn-out and gruesome crime. If convicted, the Carrolls each could face 35 years to life in prison.

The death of Marcus Fiesel took weeks to unfold and should be a wake-up call to area communities, Owens said.

The Carrolls — Liz, 30, and David, 29 — provided the 3-year-old

developmentally disabled child with a home in May after he and his two siblings were removed from his Middletown mother's home in April.

Cause of death unknown

Thursday, the first details of the toddler's remains were released.

A cause of death has yet to be determined, Owens said. A coroner in Brown County will make that ruling based on his Hamilton County counterpart's recommendation.

In addition to bone fragments — which were consistent with a 2- to 4-year-old, Owens said — gasoline also was found at the scene.

DNA testing to confirm the identity of the remains — lifted from a piece of body tissue — may take another two to three weeks.

The fact that the body was burned may delay DNA testing or make it obsolete altogether.

"I don't think that it is an issue that this is Marcus," Owens said.

But, "Fire destroys a lot," Owens said. "It can make things very, very difficult."

Compelling evidence

Investigators say that on Aug. 4 Marcus was wrapped in a blanket reinforced with tape, his hands bound behind his back and placed in a closet in the Carrolls' Union Twp. home for two of the hottest days this summer.

"I'm not going to get into particulars," Owens said when asked about what Marcus' body went through in the closet. Then he added, "The child's going die. Think about what happens to a child when they're left in a car. You don't need to be a forensic anthropologist to know what's going to happen."

Then his small body was taken to a fallen-down house in Brown County and burned — more than once, Owens said. Tests for gasoline in the soil around the chimney were positive.

"That's pretty strong evidence," Owens said. "I don't think you need much more than that."

Owens said his findings confirmed the testimony of the Carrolls' live-in girlfriend Amy Baker, who is avoiding criminal charges because of her cooperation with law enforcement officials since the case broke in mid-August.

"You have an eyewitness and I think that is a real key to this case," Owens said.

Owens said he is hopeful other statements made to investigators — namely that David Carroll Jr. dumped Marcus' ashes and unburned body parts in the Ohio River — are true.

Charges mount in case

Meanwhile, Liz and David Carroll Jr. remain in Clermont County jail on bonds of $10.1 million each following written not guilty pleas.

Wearing orange jumpsuits and shackled at the waist and ankles, Liz and David Carroll Jr. entered Judge Jerry R. McBride's courtroom in Batavia for the first time, looking solemn and disheveled. Neither said a word.

The two were indicted Wednesday by a Clermont County grand jury on seven felony counts, including kidnapping and murder charges. David Carroll Jr. faces an eighth charge of gross abuse of a corpse.

The death penalty will not be sought for the Carrolls, prosecutors said, because they are unable to prove the intent of the crime.

Attorney drops case

Dan Hannon, the attorney who represented the Carrolls at both of their arraignments, dropped the case Thursday afternoon citing a conflict of interest, though he refused to discuss the matter further.

Pretrial hearings also were set Thursday for the Carrolls. Liz Carroll will appear before Judge Robert Ringlind Wednesday and David Carroll Jr. will go before McBride on Sept. 22.

Scott Rubenstein, David Carroll's attorney during proceedings in Hamilton County late last month, will rejoin his client in Hamilton County for charges there. As of late Thursday, Clermont County court officials could not confirm an attorney for Liz Carroll.

Because of their new charges in Clermont County, an involuntary manslaughter charge in Hamilton County will be dropped, prosecutors said this week.

However, other charges will be pursued, officials said. Those include making a false alarm and inducing panic for the Carrolls' role in setting off a massive four-day search after claiming Marcus disappeared Aug. 15 from an Anderson Twp. park.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2840 or dgreber@coxohio.com.