The death of a child is always a tragedy. They have such long lives full of experiences that are cut short by something.
Sometimes it’s unpreventable, a terminal illness from birth or an unexpected accident.
Random acts of unkindness from the universe, where all the anger one could have turned into sadness knowing there is no justice to take out.
Some deaths are much more personal, however. Sometimes when a child dies, an adult is there to facilitate it.
Marcus Fiesel died in that way. With a child so young, and one needing the care he required, the line between an accident and a murder can be thin, but it was most certainly crossed by all the parties involved.
What makes it worse is the system of failures that could have prevented Marcus’ death, starting from his birth mother and going up to the state level of foster care.
10 /10 Too Young
Marcus Fiesel was born in 2003 in Middletown, Ohio, and died in 2006. In that very brief period, he went through more than most people do in their lives.
He was born into an unfortunate home, to Donna Trevino, whose maiden name was Fiesel, with two siblings.
While he was seen as an energetic and very positive young boy, his high-spirited attitude only wound up driving his mother to exhaustion.
Marcus was autistic and was set up to attend a special needs school. He was also very hyperactive, past the point where his mother could adequately care for him.
9 /10 Sad Parting
Donna couldn’t take it and surrendered Marcus over to Butler County in 2006, which ended up being a fatal mistake.
Even before that, Marcus was not in the safest place. Donna was often left weeping over her inability to take care of her children.
She knew she was overworked, and her abusive boyfriend was no help. She was all alone with raising Marcus. Her house was infested with fleas, and uncleaned feces stained the carpet.