BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio man pleaded guilty to murder today,
admitting he left his three-year-old foster son bound up in a closet where the child died.

He also admitted burning the boy's body and throwing the remains into the Ohio River.

David Carroll Junior was sentenced in Batavia, Ohio to 15 years to life in prison, with an additional year for his guilty plea to gross abuse of a corpse.

The 29-year-old Carroll and his wife, Liz, were charged with causing Marcus Fiesel's death by leaving the developmentally disabled boy wrapped in a blanket and secured with packing tape in a closet for two days. They left him to attend a weekend family reunion in Kentucky last August.

A jury last week convicted 30-year-old Liz Carroll of murder and six other charges, including involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping, in the boy's death. She was sentenced by Judge Robert Ringland to a total of 54 years to life in prison.

As part of the deal with David Carroll, prosecutors agreed to drop six charges against him. Carroll, 29, had faced the same seven charges as his wife, plus the eighth charge of gross abuse of a corpse.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)