LEWIS TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- The Ohio foster parents who reported a 3-year-old developmentally disabled boy had vanished now are charged with causing his death.

• Images: Toddler Found Dead

Marcus Fiesel's disappearance had triggered a massive search by volunteers. Authorities now said the boy was left in a closet while his foster parents went to a family reunion in Williamsburg, Ky., on Aug. 4.

The authorities said the boy was dead when the couple returned home two days later. The foster father, David Carroll Jr., is accused of burning his body.

Prosecutor Joe Deters said the couple worked out a story before they reported Marcus missing Aug. 15.

Liz Carroll told investigators that she passed out at a Cincinnati park Aug. 15 because of a heart condition and that the child disappeared while she was unconscious. She insisted at a news conference last Tuesday that several people saw the toddler with her at the park, but no one came forward to verify her claim.

She also admitted at the news conference that detectives told her husband he'd failed a lie-detector test.

In the words of the prosecutor: "You would not treat your dog like this."

Deters said a social worker was turned away from the Carrolls' Union Township home on Aug. 10 after they claimed the boy was sick. Another scheduled visit with a social worker was pending, Deters said, possibly prompting the false claim that Fiesel had disappeared at the park.

"They were running out of time," Deters said.

Just hours after the Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutor announced the arrest of the Carrolls, officials said the body of the couple's 3-year-old foster son was found.

Georgetown, Ohio, police said that the remains of Marcus Fiesel were discovered on an 88-acre estate.
Deters said foster father David Carroll had taken the child's body to Brown County, Ohio, and incinerated it.

Property owner Mike Cales said detectives from Hamilton, Clermont and Brown counties asked his permission to collect evidence from the area around a two-story stone chimney. He said the chimney is all that's left of a home that hasn't been occupied since the 1960s.

"The fields have grown up all around it," Cales said.

David and Liz Carroll have each been charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. David Carroll faces an additional charge of gross abuse of a corpse, and Deters said more charges are possible.

"These charges are to keep them in custody," he said.

A woman who lived with the Carrolls could also be prosecuted.

"We believe everyone was aware. Everyone covered up," Deters said.

Private Foster-Placement Agency Remains Silent On Boy's Death

Lifeway for Youth worked with Butler County Children's Services to place the developmentally disabled boy with the Carrolls.

"They should never had a child like this in their custody," Deters said.

The private agency won't comment on the case, but a few former employees said that Fiesel likely was placed with the Carrolls for the money.

Lifeway gets paid for the number of children it places, and the former employees said the cash is all that the organization cares about, placing children as quickly as possible with whoever will take them, according to WLWT-TV in Cincinnati.

A former caseworker said she was given 76 clients in her first month on her job.

"Over the past three to four weeks, there have been some concerns raised about some of the Lifeway homes, and as a result those children have been moved into respite care," said Jann Heffner of Butler County Children's Services.