DASTARDLY DADS FROM THE ARCHIVES (BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - 2007)

Found this in a spring cleaning of old email. Notice that JASON MARCELLE is obviously a CUSTODIAL FATHER, though this isn't spelled out as such--merely that he didn't live with his daughter's mother. Notice that Daddy had a history with CPS, a history of domestic violence, and a history of criminality in general. But not one word of explanation as to how or why he got custody, or what happened to this girl's mother.

INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT.

Sorry, I do not have a link for this story.

December 8, 2007
Father in Brooklyn Is Held in Beating Death of Girl, 3

By AL BAKER

A 33-year-old Brooklyn man was charged yesterday with killing his 3-year-old daughter, who died Wednesday night after being beaten and severely burned, officials said.

The girl’s father, Jason Marcelle, of 350 Marcus Garvey Boulevard in Bedford-Stuyvesant, was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, officials said, after an autopsy on Thursday found that the girl, Tkai Marcelle, had died of “blunt impact injuries.”

The child’s death was caused “by laceration of the liver and massive internal bleeding” as a result of blunt force trauma, according to court papers. The papers said the autopsy showed bruises on Tkai’s legs, back, arms and head and severe burns to the feet, abrasions to the back, and lacerations to the scalp.

Some neighbors of Mr. Marcelle said they had heard arguments coming from the second-floor apartment where he lived with a woman and four children. “You could hear everything on that floor, everything,” said Rahim Allen, 38, who moved into a first-floor apartment in the building about three months ago. “You could hear screaming and cursing and banging: boom, boom, boom.”

Others said Mr. Marcelle appeared to be balancing work with the rigors of raising four children.

Tkai was unconscious and unresponsive on a couch when emergency responders went to the apartment at 10:34 p.m. on Wednesday, the police said, after Mr. Marcelle called 911. The child was pronounced dead minutes later at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn.

Yesterday, her siblings were in the custody of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services. The woman who lived with them and Mr. Marcelle was not Tkai’s mother, officials said, and it was not clear if the two were married.

Police officers had responded to domestic-incident calls involving Mr. Marcelle at least five times since 2004, the police said, though none involved children.

Mr. Marcelle was arrested in a grand larceny case on Sept. 18, 1996, and he later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, officials said. In February, he was accused of assaulting his 31-year-old sister, and the case has not yet gone to trial, they said.

One official familiar with the investigation into Tkai’s death said that child welfare authorities had had complaints about the family before. There had not, however, been an abuse or neglect allegation involving a child of the family for more than two years, the official said. Before that, there had been several complaints, but none had involved physical abuse.

Mr. Marcelle was held without bail after his arraignment yesterday.