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MIDDLETOWN — It's too early to determine whether the recent state report that placed blame on Lifeway for Youth in the case involving the death of a 3-year-old developmentally disabled former Middletown boy will help to support a lawsuit against the agency.

But, according to a lawyer for Marcus Fiesel's biological mother Donna Trevino, who filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Lifeway and other agencies earlier this year, "It doesn't hurt."

Trevino's attorney Kevin Hughes said Tuesday — in the wake of the 34-page investigation by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services that detailed violations and provided recommendations for Lifeway and two county agencies — the wrongful death lawsuit is still in its "infancy."

"We're still in the very early stages of this case," Hughes said.

Springboro attorneys Hughes and Jennifer Coatney filed the civil lawsuit in early September in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Butler County Children Services, under a contract with Lifeway for Youth, placed all three of Trevino's children in separate foster homes.

The lawsuit names Butler County Commissioners, Butler County Children Services, Lifeway for Youth, foster parents Liz Carroll and David Carroll Jr., and the Carrolls' live-in girlfriend Amy Baker as co-defendants in the case.

The lawsuit alleges the Carrolls mentally and physically abused Marcus and that Lifeway for Youth failed to remove him from their Clermont County home "even though the abuse had been taking place and was ongoing up to the time of his death."

The suit is seeking $2.5 million in punitive damages and $2.5 million in compensatory damages.

In April, authorities removed Trevino's children — then ages 10, 3 and 13 months — from her Grimes Street home in Middletown after Marcus was found wandering the streets and police found "very bad living conditions."

Prosecutors have said Marcus died after the Carrolls bound him in a blanket and tape and left him in a closet in their home for two days. When they returned, prosecutors say David Carroll Jr. burned Marcus' remains in Brown County.

Among the 17 violations found by the state, Lifeway, according to the report, failed to gather complete background information on the Carrolls; did not visit the home enough; failed to contact the couple's references; lied about the number of training hours the two received; and billed the state for training that never occurred.

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