CARROLL SON MEETS WITH GRAND JURY
CARROLL SON MEETS WITH GRAND JURY
PROBE CONTINUES INTO '93 DEATH OF JOSIAH
Janice Haidet
December 1, 1994
Dayton Daily News
Isaiah Carroll - the severely disabled 12-year-old who informed authorities this summer that he witnessed his older brother kill another sibling - met with a Greene County grand jury Wednesday for more than an hour.
"Yes, I can confirm that a grand jury did meet today, and, yes, you just saw Isaiah Carroll leaving the courthouse. But I cannot tell you why he was here or what, if anything, was being considered by the grand jury," Greene County Prosecutor William F. Schenck said. "I can tell you that the investigation into the death of Josiah Carroll is continuing, and you may draw whatever conclusions you wish," he said.
In June, authorities said Isaiah, who has cerebral palsy, used gestures and other means to communicate that he witnessed his eldest brother, James, 18, smother 12-year-old Josiah on a bed June 14, 1993. Josiah also had cerebral palsy.
The death was the fourth and most mysterious in the family of Kathleen and Timothy Carroll, a Cedarville couple who adopted 10 children with physical, mental or emotional problems. The deaths concerned a judge enough to remove Isaiah and his 6-year-old brother Samuel, who has Down syndrome, from the home and place them in foster care in August 1993.
On Monday, a judge ruled that the children be allowed longer visits with their parents. The judge said he would rule in February whether the children could be returned home permanently.
The judge made the ruling following an agreement between Greene County authorities and Carroll's defense attorneys. The agreement, among other things, bans James from being at the home while the two boys visit.
Meanwhile, two county prosecutors' staff members and two Children Services Board case workers escorted Isaiah out of the grand jury room at about 11:20 a.m., after he'd spent more than an hour there.
Therapists left Wednesday's session carrying a board covered with symbols that help disabled people communicate.
As videotaping equipment was packed up and taken out of the grand jury room, Schenck said action on the homicide investigation "will likely continue in some form during the next couple weeks."
The family has been under intense scrutiny since the bleach-burning death of Hannah, 6, a Down syndrome child, on Sept. 21, 1992. Mr. and Mrs. Carroll pleaded guilty to neglect charges in that death, but James was acquitted after a three-day trial last year. Three other mysterious deaths followed, Josiah's being the only other one with conclusive evidence of foul play.