News Summary

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.

But The Journal isn't alone. We're the engine, but it's a lengthy train.

Type in Marcus Fiesel on www.google.com, and you'll find 81,000 sites — up from 57,000 on Thursday — that mention the 3-year-old.

Newspapers and television stations in southwest Ohio have followed every step in the case, and now that his foster parents have been charged, the story has grabbed the attention of media outlets throughout the United States.

There are Web sites that feature photo albums, message boards, chat rooms and slide and video shows. One of those is www.scaredmonkeys.com, dedicated to exploited and missing children. "Red," one of the site's co-founders, said after news of Marcus' disappearance was linked to his Web site, he received an e-mail from Marcus' foster mother. She chastised the site for her portrayal.

"As soon as she did that, well, it was like, she's guilty," Red said Friday from his office in Maine. "You knew this was going to end bad. The radar just went up. It raises the hair on the back of your neck. When you kill your son, and go public pleading for help, it brings it to a special level of hell."

He said Marcus' story has drawn widespread coverage because people are so "disgusted by it."

Since Marcus was autistic, a Web site — www.autismvox.com — has issued an "In Memoriam to Marcus" from its founder, Kristina Chew.

In response to the letter, a man wrote: " 'Come here Marcus, you are with Me now.' That is what God said to Marcus a few days ago. You see, when Marcus got to heaven he was frightened and crying. God picked him up and held him."

Chew said she is notified every time a story about an autistic child runs in a newspaper. Marcus' "sad, sad story" will leave a lasting impression, she said.

"As a parent, you can't help but feel sorry for the young boy," said Chew, a New Jersey mother of a 9-year-old autistic boy. "You hear about the way he died, and, well, it makes you hold your child tighter."

According to Hamilton County prosecutors, the boy's foster parents — Liz and David Carroll Jr. — bound him with packaging tape and locked him in a closet at their Clermont County home for two days while they attended a family reunion in Kentucky. When they returned to their Union Twp. home Aug. 6, Marcus was dead.

It is believed that David Carroll burned Marcus' body in Brown County to conceal the crime.

Even with a story this bizarre, there was a time — and not too long ago — that it would have been reported by area media outlets, then picked up by wire services. It wouldn't have extended too far beyond the city's boundaries.

That all changed with the Internet. What is reported in The Journal — once a community newspaper — is spread on its Web site, and instantly reaches millions of possible readers.

In the different chat rooms, when writing about Marcus' accused foster parents, people used such phrases as "burn in hell," "I hope that they string them up" and "I think the term 'monsters' is too gentle."

One person blamed Marcus' birth mother, Donna Trevino: "She wasn't willing to accept the gift God gave her."

One simply wrote: "We love you, Marcus."

It seems everyone cares about Marcus. Unfortunately, the love came too late.

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