We cared too late: Remembering Marcus Fiesel
September 3, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
That is the title of a piece about Marcus Fiesel by columnist Rick McCrabb that appeared in the September 2nd Middletown Journal. This is the beginning of We cared too late:
If only we were this fascinated with Marcus Fiesel when he was alive.
No one in this newsroom ever met Marcus, but now that his young life was allegedly taken by his foster parents, we talk about him like he’s one of us.
Every budget meeting begins, “What’s new with Marcus?”
He’s so recognizable, he only needs a first name. In a creepy sort of way, he has become a child celebrity, our JonBenet Ramsey.
McCrabb notes how not only “newspapers and television stations in southwest Ohio have followed every step in the case,” but also—following Marcus’s foster parents being charged—”the story has grabbed the attention of media outlets throughout the United States,”including this website.
A parent named Frank left this comment this morning:
What bank and in what city has the fund setup for the playground? I would like to contribute.
I have a baby boy her turned 2 on August 3rd. It’s so hard for me to think that while I’m celebrating my sons birthday, someone out there was trying to end another baby boys’ life. …………
On another note…
Does anyone have pictures of Marcus and or videos? I’m trying to collect as many pictures of Marcus as I can for a video project. I’d like to create a memorial video with pictures/videos of Marcus with the song “Angels among us” by Alabama. I’d like to create something where Marcus will never be forgotten.
Please email your pictures to frank@fwkvideo.com.
I spoke to Rick McCrabb on Friday afternoon and I am quoted in We cared too late. And as I spoke to him from my office off of Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City—-directly across from Lower Manhattan and Wall Street (once upon a time I could have looked down the street where I park my car and I would have seen the World Trade Center)—I thought about how parents and friends and relatives and teachers and therapists of children with disabilities are part of a country with no borders, no fixed geographical location. When one child triumphs, we all cheer, hearts in our throats; when one child suffers, and even dies—and dies terribly, as Marcus did—we all mourn, and we will remember.
“Six days after the boy’s foster parents were hauled off to jail, charged with killing him in a crime so chilling it stunned the region, the clearest picture yet of the 3-year-old is emerging.
At age 1, he lived in a flea-infested home that reeked of mold and feces.
More than once, police had come to the house when Marcus’ mother, Donna Trevino, called to complain that her boyfriend was hitting her or threatening to.
On one visit, the house smelled so bad that police asked Trevino where the animals were.
There weren’t any, she told them.
Police were so concerned about the mass of flea bites covering the arms and legs of Marcus’ 9-year-old brother, Michael, that they strongly suggested the family move.
By the time Marcus was 2, police were still responding to domestic problems at his mother’s home. During a visit on Sept. 29, 2005, they found severe bruising on Marcus’ left buttock.
Police weren’t the only ones worried.
Child welfare workers were investigating complaints from Trevino about physical abuse, too, reports show.
As he approached his third birthday, a foster family in Clermont County offered Marcus a safe, new life away from the turmoil with his mom.
That’s not how things turned out.”
This is a quote from the local newspaper. She wasn’t fit to parent him either.
I have a demanding family they drive me nuts imy children are aged 19 down to 3yrs 8mths. My youngest is autistic. I have 5 children in all and they are my world i have had to mainly bring them up themselves my ex was never there for me or them. But hurt them? No. Kids are the greatest gift and achievement we as parents will ever be given. I see parents collect their kids from school and start verbally bullying them as soon as they are out the gates, they havent seen them all day! Why do people have children if they havent gor the patience for them?? I like awake at night thinking about kids i dont want to mentally picture their pain but i do> Too many blind eyes are turned cos people dont want to get involved.
Jo, thanks for your powerful words—-your are right, what could be a greater gift to us than our children?