Liz Carroll and her husband give foster parents a bad name

Gallery swells as curious stop in to view trial
Kelley, Eileen. Cincinnati Enquirer, Feb. 17, 2007, pg. A8.

BATAVIA - The murder trial of Liz Carroll drew more spectators Friday now that jury selection is over and testimony is under way.

Cathy Huhn, 48, and her father, Neal Collins, 68, both of Goshen Township, intended to stop in at Carroll's trial at some point, and found the time Friday.

Collins was just curious, but Huhn had another reason for being there.

"This infuriates me," she said. "I'm a foster mom. The whole thing gives foster parents - the 99.8 percent of us that are in it for the right reasons - a very bad name."

Huhn and Collins watched intently as prosecutors showed the jury two hours of television news footage of the unsuccessful search for Marcus Fiesel and interviews with Liz and husband David Carroll Jr.

"She's good, that's all I can say," Huhn said, referring to Liz Carroll's on-camera performance.

The courtroom session Friday even piqued the interest of Debbie Culberson, whose daughter, Carrie, vanished from her Blanchester, Ohio, home in 1996.

Carrie's boyfriend, Vince Doan, and some of his relatives were convicted in Carrie's death, although the 22-year-old woman's remains were never found.

Culberson helped search for Marcus in August. She'd never seen Liz Carroll in person before.

"It's not as much to see her as to just see the system," Culberson said of her presence in court.

Liz and David Carroll's family members said that watching the two hours of newscasts Friday morning was painful and redundant, especially after watching a press conference by Liz Carroll at Juilfs Park over and over again.

"It was really hard sitting through it," said her mother, Audrey Sims, who hung her head and appeared exhausted about midway through the video.

To Sims, the video showed a daughter ready to crack. - GIVE ME A BREAK

"I don't think she could have lived with it," Sims said. "I think eventually she would have turned Amy in."

The Carrolls maintain that the prosecution's chief witness against them, Amy Baker, is responsible for their 3-year-old foster child's death.