Journal-News.com

MIDDLETOWN — Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters is urging the Middletown mother of

3-year-old Marcus Fiesel to claim her son's remains.

In his letter to Donna Trevino, Deters said the Middletown woman refused an offer for Hamilton County to take care of funeral services for Marcus.

A local funeral home that has been working with her since August said that's not the case.

"She has always been under the impression that they would not release him until the appeal process is over, not just the trial," said Lori Hicks, of Baker-Stevens Funeral Home in Middletown.

The developmentally disabled boy was bound and left to die alone in a closet by foster parents Liz and David Carroll Jr. last August while they, their live-in girlfriend Amy Baker, other children and the family dog vacationed in Kentucky. Upon returning and finding Marcus dead, David Carroll and Baker then took the body to a Brown County remote site and burned the remains, then threw what was left into the Ohio River from a bridge near Maysville, Ky.

Hicks said Trevino is interested in receiving the remains and giving Marcus an appropriate burial. Hicks said she has been in contact with authorities from the Hamilton County Coroner's office for the past week, and the remains could be released as early as next week.

"I certainly understand your decision to not accept our offer to provide the remains of Marcus Fiesel a proper burial," Deters wrote to Trevino. "What I cannot understand is your failure to claim Marcus' remains and put him to rest."

Liz Carroll was sentenced to 54 years to life for the murder in Clermont County. Her husband was given a 16-year to life sentence after pleading to lesser charges.

Kentucky prosecutors are pursuing charges against Baker for her role in the disposal of Marcus' remains. Investigators found pieces of Marcus' remains at the chimney site in Brown County Aug. 28.

A path of crushed underbrush leads to the hearth where visitors have left trinkets — plastic trucks, pictures, small wooden angels — mourning the boy's brutal death. Volunteers have refashioned the chimney stones into a memorial.

What was recovered from the chimney last August were orbital bones and pieces of the boy's skull — 18 pieces so small they could fit into the palm of a hand — as well as buttons and snaps from the clothing he was wearing at the time of his death.

"What is left of Marcus is sitting in the Hamilton County Coroner's Office," Deters wrote to Trevino. "There is no legal impediment to you in claiming his remains. Please have the decency to make arrangements to have him put to rest. He deserves no less."

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office is expected to release the remains sometime next week after the Brown County coroner signs the appropriate paperwork, Hicks said.

Hicks said Trevino, at first, wished to make the funeral services public to allow for "some closure for the community." With the latest news, though, Hicks said Trevino may have changed her mind.

Neither Trevino, nor her attorneys Kevin Hughes and Jennifer Coatney, could be reached for comment.

Butler County Deputy Tim Hubbard helped to organize a benefit for Marcus last October. More than $9,000 was raised and has been used to construct other memorials at nearby parks and provide scholarships for children with autism at area schools.

"We're relieved that all of this is coming to an end," Hubbard said this week. "But we want to make sure that none of this is ever forgotten."

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