Marlon _ Santos

August 6, 2006

Baby Marlon case a mystery

By Kim Ring TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

When Worcester police received the report of a missing 5-month-old in November 1998, they were already two days behind in their investigation.

Almost 8 years later, police know little more than they did when Marlon Devine Santos was initially reported missing by his foster parents, Jose M. and Yolanda I. Castillo.

The Castillos waited 48 hours before telling police that little Marlon was gone. The delay cost investigators precious time and, by many accounts, reduced by 50 percent the likelihood that the disappearance, believed to be a homicide, would be solved.

“Those first 48 hours are so critical,” Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said. “The missing child was not reported to us until two days later. That left us with quite a gap.”

Miami police Lt. Joseph Schillaci, known for his role in A&E’s reality television show “The First 48,” agreed that time is critical in solving homicide cases. However, even after 48 hours, he said, the cases can still move along.

“The cases that get solved are cases where people didn’t give up. Sometimes we say we hit a wall, but you know, you have to find a way over it, through it or under it. You can’t say you’re shelving the case,” he said.

In the days after Marlon was reported missing, Worcester police put all their resources to work, according to Worcester Police Detective Capt. Edward J. McGinn Jr. The media spotlight stayed on the Baby Marlon case for months, something that would normally generate calls from tipsters or witnesses — but none came.

“This case didn’t generate information like some other cases do,” Mr. Conte said. “This is not the type of case you get a lot of calls on.”

Lt. Schillaci said that in cases with few leads, investigators have to take steps to create new leads.

“You’re never out of leads,” he said, recalling a fellow detective who has been actively pursuing a decade-old homicide. “You have to have passion,” he said. Investigators cannot give up on such cases.

In Marlon’s case, police say they are still passionate about solving the disappearance, but they are not even sure that some leads they followed early on are good. They don’t know if information they’ve received is credible, because they got little cooperation from those associated with the child.

“We couldn’t really get reliable information,” Mr. Conte recalled recently. “We were working with theories.”

Detective Capt. McGinn said, “The problem was, a lot of people were actual caregivers (for Marlon) and everyone had their story.”

The fact that no one would cooperate means something in the case, Lt. Schillaci said. Using the science of “victimology,” Lt. Schillaci said, he likes to look at the victim’s home and family. He studies parents and children and relationships between the victim and others. He wants to determine who the person was and why they might have been targeted for a crime. He sits in victims’ bedrooms and tries to get a sense of the person. Often that helps him make a connection that leads to a case being resolved, he said. The experience, he noted, is sometimes “spiritual.”

With a 5-month-old victim, though, there are few connections to be made, and police found themselves thinking out several scenarios. Perhaps the baby died in an accident. Maybe he was sold. But nothing panned out.

What investigators were told was that Mrs. Castillo left the baby and two other foster children, ages 2 and 3, in the house alone while she drove eight miles to East Middle School and back to pick up two of her biological children. She told police that when she returned, the baby was gone. Her husband, a Pentecostal minister who police would later learn had a rap sheet, was out of town. His wife had picked him up in New York before reporting the baby missing.

The baby’s birth mother, Dina Santos, had problems of her own and also failed to cooperate with the police, Mr. Conte said. She had been in and out of a local shelter and, by some accounts, often left the child with friends and strangers for days at a time.

The baby’s birth father had a brief and stormy relationship with Ms. Santos. William H. Kahanic, who lived in Spencer at the time, had sought custody of the baby and promised to make those responsible for the boy’s disappearance pay. There is still no one for him to blame.

In the first year after the baby’s disappearance, police received information that Marlon could be found along the banks of the Wachusett Reservoir in Holden. A search turned up a baby blanket, diaper and several other items of interest, but the infant’s remains were never found. Detective Capt. McGinn said he is not convinced the items belonged to Marlon.

Mr. Conte said he has always felt detectives were close to finding the child, but could never find the one piece of information needed to lead them to him.

Despite a rumor that the child was sold, possibly in New York, the district attorney has operated primarily on the theory that Baby Marlon is dead. If he were sold, it might have been the best possible outcome for Marlon, Detective Capt. McGinn said.

“If he was sold, not for criminal purposes but to a family that wanted him, that would probably be the best of the scenarios,” he said.

If the child is alive, it’s not likely he knows that he has been the subject of an intense investigation. He may not know that some police officers still lose sleep over the case or that Detective Capt. McGinn would like to see him found before he retires.

Referring to cases such as Baby Marlon’s as “cold” disturbs some investigators. Some prefer to call the cases “old” or “inactive.”

A grand jury assembled in 2000 looked at the evidence but did not indict anyone. In 2005, at Mr. Conte’s request, Worcester police went over their files and took another look at Marlon’s disappearance.

“We do revisit these old cases,” he said. “We just keep working on them. We’re blessed with a lot of terrific investigators. ... ”

Marlon’s case is as baffling as others that have challenged investigators for decades.

•Taj Narbonne left a note after a dispute with his stepfather on March 31, 1981. The boy, then 9 years old, was never heard from again. His grandparents have said they want to find their grandson, and police continue to work on the case.

•Townsend teen Deborah Quimby vanished during a bike ride to her grandmother’s house in 1977. In recent years, anonymous tips have led police back to Walker Pond, where they first searched for the remains of the 13-year-old girl, but subsequent searches have turned up no new evidence in the case.

•Andrew Amato’s family still wonders where their child could be. Andrew was 4 years old on Sept. 30, 1978, crying in the woods near his Webster trailer home, when his playmates went for help. The child was gone when they returned. Investigators have followed dozens of leads, to no avail.

April 2, 2005

Marlon' case revived
Gary V. Murray,Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER - Law enforcement authorities are reviving their investigation into the disappearance of a 5-month-old foster child more than six years ago and are asking the public for help.

District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday that Worcester Police Department officials have agreed, at his request, to assign two detectives to "take another look" at the Marlon Devine Santos case. Mr. Conte said he has assigned Assistant District Attorney Timothy M. Bibaud to work with the officers.

"We're just going to go back and re-review everything and see if we can't elicit some information from anybody who knows anything about this," Mr. Conte said of the decision to revive the investigation.

On Nov. 7, 1998, Yolanda I. Castillo reported to police that the foster child who came to be known as "Baby Marlon" had disappeared from her Eastern Avenue home two days earlier. Ms. Castillo told investigators she left the infant without adult supervision while she went to pick up her biological children from school. When she returned home about 45 minutes later, she said, Marlon was gone.

Police have been unable to determine the child's fate, and no one has been charged in the disappearance, despite a widespread investigation, searches for possible remains and the convening of a special grand jury to look into the matter.

Mr. Conte said Worcester police never closed their investigation into the disappearance and the file had been reviewed by officers from time to time. He said the latest revival of the investigation was not prompted by any new leads or evidence.

The district attorney said he had been considering asking investigators to revisit the disappearance for some time. He acknowledged that a Telegram & Gazette editorial Tuesday citing various unsolved cases in Worcester County, including the Santos case, may have precipitated his request.

Marlon's foster father, former Pentecostal minister Jose M. Castillo, was sentenced to 5 to 7-1/2 years in state prison in 2000 on sexual assault charges that surfaced while police were investigating the disappearance. Mr. Castillo was convicted in Worcester Superior Court of sexually assaulting a foster daughter in 1997 and 1998.

A mistrial was declared in April 2000 when a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child against Mr. Castillo involving another former foster daughter.

That case is scheduled to be retried April 11.

March 29, 2005

Cold cases -
Foster care tragedies remain mysteries

Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION

In the wake of the traumatic death of a 4-year-old boy placed in foster care in Dorchester, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is asking police to revisit the decade-old unsolved murders of two children, both in foster care.

Michelle Walton, 9, was killed in October 1994 and Gage Guillen, 3, in September 1995. A Boston Herald report notes that no arrests or charges have been brought in either case.

Boston's unsolved cases concerning children entrusted to foster care are by no means unique.

In Worcester, an even more perplexing case remains unsolved, and largely forgotten, six-plus years after the fact.

On Nov. 5, 1998, 5-month-old Marlon Devine Santos disappeared from the Worcester foster home in which he had been placed. To this day, it is unknown what fate befell the infant.

The investigation has been controversial from the beginning. The adults responsible for Baby Marlon's well-being, including his foster parents, Jose M. and Yolanda Castillo, and his mother, Dina Santos, showed little interest in cooperating with authorities.

Investigators were unable to determine even whether the boy was dead or alive, and the case all-too-quickly went cold. The investigation appeared to be heating up when District Attorney John J. Conte led a high-profile search, shortly before the first anniversary of Baby Marlon's disappearance, of woods along Route 70 near Wachusett Reservoir. The search and subsequent inquiries by a special grand jury were to no avail.

Compounding the tragedy, authorities later learned that the foster father had a criminal record in Puerto Rico, including assault, armed robbery and other serious crimes - a chilling revelation given that between 1992 and 1998, the state Department of Social Services had placed 52 foster children in the Castillo home.

More than six years after his unexplained disappearance, Baby Marlon's case is heart-rending still. We urge Mr. Conte to take a cue from Boston and revisit this disturbing case.

December 14, 2004

Missing baby's foster father faces retrial
Indecent assault case vs. Castillo

Author: Gary V. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER - March 21 has been set as the date for the retrial of a child sexual assault case against a former Pentecostal minister who was also the foster father of a 5-month-old baby who disappeared in 1998.

The Worcester Superior Court retrial was set last week for Jose M. Castillo on a charge of indecent assault and battery on a child stemming from an alleged sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl in January 1998. Mr. Castillo, who was sentenced to 5 to 7--1/2 years in state prison in 2000 on unrelated sexual assault charges, stands accused of touching the 13-year-old in an indecent manner while applying oil to her abdomen during what he described as a healing service. The alleged victim was a foster daughter of Mr. Castillo and his wife, Yolanda I. Castillo.

A mistrial was declared in April 2000, when a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case. Testifying in his own defense, Mr. Castillo acknowledged applying oil to the girl's abdomen and praying for her recovery after she complained of stomach pains, but denied her assertion that he placed his hand beneath her panties.

Also pending against Mr. Castillo are sexual assault charges involving his stepdaughter, who has since publicly recanted her allegations.

In November of 1998, Mrs. Castillo reported to police that the couple's 5-month-old foster child, Marlon Devine Santos, had vanished from the Castillos' Eastern Avenue home.

Despite an extensive police investigation and the convening of a special grand jury, no charges were ever lodged in connection with Marlon's disappearance and the child has not been found. The sexual assault allegations against Mr. Castillo surfaced as law enforcement authorities investigated the disappearance.

August 31, 2002

Mother's claims dismissed
Judge rules out DSS in suit over baby's disappearance

Gary V. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER -- A judge has dismissed a mother's claims against the state Department of Social Services in a lawsuit over the disappearance of her infant son from a Worcester foster home nearly four years ago.

Dina Santos, the biological mother of Marlon Devine Santos, filed suit Nov. 5 in Worcester Superior Court alleging negligence on the part of DSS in connection with the Nov. 5, 1998, disappearance of the child from the Eastern Avenue home of Jose M. and Yolanda I. Castillo, his foster parents.

Mrs. Castillo reported to police on Nov. 7, 1998, two days after the disappearance, that she left 5-month-old Marlon without adult supervision while she went to pick up her biological children from school. When she returned home, she said, Marlon was gone.

Police have been unable to determine the child's fate and no one has been charged in the disappearance.

In October 2000, Mr. Castillo was sentenced to 5 to 71/2 years in state prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting a foster daughter in 1997 and 1998. He is seeking a new trial.

In her suit, which also named the Castillos and Catholic Charities as defendants, Ms. Santos claimed DSS was negligent in placing her son with the Castillos without a proper background investigation and home study and in its training and supervision of them as foster parents.

On Aug. 15, Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders allowed a motion filed by Assistant Attorney General Salvatore M. Giorlandino seeking the dismissal of Ms. Santos' claims for failure to comply with provisions of the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act, which governs suits against public employers.

In allowing the motion, Judge Sanders noted that Ms. Santos' lawyer, Sean M. McGinty, presented a claim in writing with DSS, before filing suit, rather than with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, as required by law. DSS is an agency within the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

``Without actual presentment made in strict compliance with the statute, the plaintiff has failed to satisfy a condition precedent to bringing suit,'' Judge Sanders wrote. The judge said she was not basing her decision on Mr. Giorlandino's additional contention that the letter was not sent in a timely fashion because she did not have sufficient information to determine when Ms. Santos knew or should have known that she had a claim against DSS.

DSS obtained custody of Marlon after filing a petition with the Worcester Juvenile Court as a result of Ms. Santos' drug use, according to court documents.

Still pending are Ms. Santos' claims of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the Castillos, and negligence claim against Catholic Charities for its alleged involvement in the foster placement.

The Castillos have not filed answers to the suit.

In its answer, Catholic Charities referred to the claim against it as ``frivolous.'' Catholic Charities acknowledged training Mrs. Castillo as a foster parent in 1990, before she was living with Mr. Castillo.

Also pending is a related suit filed earlier this year by William H. Kahanic, Marlon's father. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services and DSS are among the named defendants in that lawsuit.

November 9, 2001

Police still investigating case of missing Marlon Santos

Emilie Astell, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER -- Three years ago, Jose M. Castillo and his wife, Yolanda I. Castillo, reported to police that their 5-month-old foster child, Marlon Devine Santos, had vanished from their Eastern Avenue home.

The report touched off a widespread investigation into the whereabouts of the missing infant. In the months that followed, leads were tracked, woods around reservoirs searched and a special grand jury convened.

While there is little indication that the child is still alive, his remains have not been found. No one has been charged in connection with the disappearance and law enforcement officials seem no closer to a solution than they were in the days following the report.

``The case is far from being closed,'' Police Capt. Paul F. Campbell said yesterday. ``We're always reviewing the file. On occasion, individuals come forward with what they consider information. Some have proven helpful, others have not.''

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte also said the matter remains under investigation. State police working out of his office were originally involved in the probe, but have been taken off the case.

``It's not the state police detectives doing the investigation,'' he said, ``it's the city detectives doing it.''

Meanwhile, Mr. Castillo awaits the outcomes of his appeal of a conviction of sexually assaulting a former foster daughter, and his motion seeking a new trial.

In October 2000, a Worcester Superior Court jury found Mr. Castillo, the 55-year-old former pastor of a Pentecostal church, guilty of sexually assaulting a foster daughter in 1997 and 1998. He was sentenced to 5 to 7 1/2 years in state prison on charges of indecent assault and battery on a child and indecent assault and battery.

Mr. Castillo's lawyer, James W. Rosseel, filed a notice of appeal of the convictions and a motion for a new trial. The motion for a new trial is based, in part, on a claim that the jury that convicted Mr. Castillo may have been prejudiced by publicity concerning the missing baby investigation.

Mr. Rosseel alleges his client was denied due process, because the defense was not provided with a state Department of Social Services report containing exculpatory evidence, meaning evidence that tends to support innocence, until after the prosecution had rested its case.

Mr. Castillo's appeal and motion for a new trial are pending.

The allegations against Mr. Castillo arose during a police investigation into the disappearance of baby Marlon. On Nov. 7, 1998, the Castillos reported to police that the child had disappeared from their home two days earlier.

Mrs. Castillo said she left their foster child without adult supervision while she went to pick up her biological children from school. When she returned about 45 minutes later, she said, the baby was gone.

Mr. Conte convened a special grand jury early last year to look into the disappearance. Police have been unable to determine the child's fate, and no one has been charged.

October 21, 2000

JOSE CASTILLO SEEKS NEW TRIAL \ LAWYER CITES PRETRIAL PUBLICITY

Gary S. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER -- Jose M. Castillo, the former foster father of a missing boy, is appealing his conviction on charges of sexually assaulting a former foster daughter and is seeking a new trial.

Mr. Castillo, whose foster son, Marlon Devine Santos, disappeared from the Castillo home at 175 Eastern Ave. nearly two years ago, was sentenced last month to 5 to 71/2 years in state prison on charges of indecent assault and battery on a child and indecent assault and battery.

A Worcester Superior Court jury found Mr. Castillo, the 54-year-old former pastor of a Pentecostal church, guilty of sexually assaulting a foster daughter in 1997 and 1998.

The allegations against Mr. Castillo arose during a police investigation into the disappearance of the Santos child. On Nov. 7, 1998, Mr. Castillo and his wife, Yolanda I. Castillo, reported to police that the 5-month-old baby disappeared from their home two days earlier.

District Attorney John J. Conte convened a special grand jury earlier this year to look into the disappearance. Police have been unable to determine the child's fate, and no one has been charged.

Mr. Castillo's lawyer, James W. Rosseel, filed a notice of appeal of the sexual assault convictions this week, as well as a motion for a new trial. The motion for a new trial is based, in part, on a claim that the jury that convicted Mr. Castillo may have been prejudiced by publicity concerning the missing baby investigation.

Mr. Rosseel further alleges his client was denied due process because the defense was not provided with a state Department of Social Services report containing exculpatory evidence, that which tends to support innocence, until after the prosecution had rested its case.

The defense lawyer is asking for an evidentiary hearing on his motion for a new trial.

Still pending against Mr. Castillo are other sexual assault charges involving a stepdaughter and another former foster daughter. The stepdaughter has since recanted her allegations against Mr. Castillo.

The case has been continued to Tuesday.

February 2, 2000

SPECIAL JURIES COULD CRACK 2 UNSOLVED CRIMINAL CASES

Emilie Astell, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER -- The two special investigative grand juries that will convene Feb. 23 are expected to consider volumes of testimony as they sift through evidence surrounding the disappearance of a baby and the murder of a teen-ager.

While grand juries are convened routinely, calling for special grand juries is a step toward a more probing, long-term review of criminal cases, according to those in the legal profession.

``A typical grand jury hears evidence after police have completed their investigation and are seeking an indictment,'' said Worcester lawyer Peter L. Ettenberg. ``With a special grand jury, evidence isn't final yet. Police are still investigating. The district attorney's office and the police will continue to present information to this grand jury.''

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte earlier announced formation of the special grand juries as part of investigations into the disappearance of baby Marlon Devine Santos and the fatal shooting of Nicholas Diaz, 18.

Marlon was 5 months old when his foster parents, Yolanda and Jose Castillo of Worcester, reported him missing Nov. 7, 1998, two days after he had actually disappeared.

Last October, investigators searched the banks of Wachusett Reservoir off Route 70 in Boylston after receiving information that the baby's remains were buried there. Clothing, a diaper and plastic were recovered, but not the baby's body.

Mr. Diaz was shot Nov. 26, 1997, outside 98 Chatham St. He was with friends when a car pulled up and shots were fired. There have been no arrests.

Because of the intense investigations, Mr. Conte said, at least 50 witnesses will be subpoenaed to testify under oath in the Santos case, and 15 to 20 witnesses will be called in the Diaz case.

In both cases, the gathering of information has been stymied by a lack of cooperation. The Castillos have each hired their own lawyer. The baby's natural mother, Dina Santos, also has legal representation. She is serving a term in Framingham State Prison for violating probation on a drug conviction.

Added to the tangled web surrounding the baby's fate are child sexual abuse charges filed against Mr. Castillo, who has been in jail since December 1998. The charges, filed after the baby's disappearance, involve allegations of sexual assaults on three girls, including two of the more than 50 children Mr. Castillo and his wife cared for as foster parents for the state Department of Social Services.

In the death of Mr. Diaz, his relatives have said police know who pulled the trigger but lack specific evidence to link the assailant to the crime. Police said at the time of the shooting that witnesses saw the attack, but they have not been able to make an arrest.

Mr. Ettenberg said he believes Mr. Conte is conducting the special grand juries knowing there are witnesses who have wavered in providing information to police. Having those witnesses sworn in, under oath to tell the truth, places an obligation on them to be honest or face perjury charges, he said.

Worcester lawyer James J. Gribouski agrees a special grand jury's subpoena power, allowing the jury to require testimony and submission of financial and other records, may be the most effective method of getting at the truth.

``People respect the oath,'' Mr. Gribouski said. ``When you get brought in to a more formal proceeding, people are less likely to shade the truth because now they realize the consequences. Another benefit is that prosecutors now have testimony under oath, testimony that can be used to impeach witnesses.''

Mr. Conte said earlier that the special grand juries could decide to indict individuals after hearing testimony. If jurors decide there is not enough evidence to indict, the investigations could come to an end.

Much of what happens depends on the quality of the preceding investigation, according to Fitchburg lawyer Edward P. Ryan Jr.

When a grand jury can focus attention on one or two cases, he said, the intense scrutiny sometimes produces the desired results. But, he said, there is always the chance that prosecutors will come up empty-handed, as in the case of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, whose mysterious murder Dec. 26, 1996, in Colorado has not been solved. A grand jury studied the case for 13 months without returning indictments.

``It all depends on the quality of the investigation that precedes the grand jury, and the nature of the state of the evidence police have when they begin their investigation,'' Mr. Ryan said. ``Mr. Conte must feel that he's gone as far as he can through the use of the state police and now he's going to take the evidence to the grand jury.''

January 7, 1999

WORCESTER POLICE SPIN THEIR WEB \ DEPARTMENT HOPES SITE WILL

Author: Emilie Astell; TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER - The tiny face of Marlon Devine Santos, the baby missing since Nov. 5, fills a computer screen on the opening page of the Police Department's Web site.

Under the heading of "Urgent Special Alert: Missing Infant" is a brief synopsis of the case.

The facts have become all too familiar in the nine weeks since the baby's former foster parents, Jose and Yolanda I. Castillo, told police on Nov. 7 that the 5-month-old had disappeared from their home at 175 Eastern Ave. two days earlier.

The Castillos and the biological parents, Dina Santos and William H. Kahanic, have not cooperated with investigators. Last month, Jose Castillo was charged with sexually assaulting two foster children formerly living in his home. He also was charged with having sex with an 11-year-old girl in 1992. Castillo is in custody.

HOPING FOR CLUES

While the investigation continues in full force, according to District Attorney John J. Conte, detectives are hoping for a break in the case by turning to the Internet for information about the infant's fate.

Anyone with information about the missing baby is asked to send e-mail to Worcester police at wpddetectives@ci.worcester.ma.us; or call either the Detective Bureau, (508) 799-8651, the Police Department's main line, (508) 799-8606, or Assistant District Attorney Thomas E. Landry, (508) 755-8601. Police accept anonymous calls and messages.

The Police Department's Web site is www.ci.worcester.ma.us police. The site also has an e-mail message form to send information to detectives.

"The detective bureau put it on as a means to assist us in the investigation," Worcester Detective Daniel Rosario, designer of the department's Web pages, said yesterday.

Rosario, one of the investigators assigned to the missing baby case, said tips are checked out by detectives. He declined to comment on how many tips have been received in the case or whether any has proved useful.

The department will keep the missing-baby bulletin on the Web page until the case is solved, or officials decide to place it in the inactive file.

BLUE LIGHTS

The department's Web site is eye-catching. On the detectives' page, a set of blue and white "wig-wag" lights - the kind usually seen flashing on police cruisers - flash away in the upper left corner.

Rosario has received positive feedback on his design of the Web site, which contains several colorful graphics.

The site has sections devoted to Chief Edward P. Gardella's office, as well as the department's Investigations, Administration and Operations divisions. A photo of the chief appears on the first page, along with the picture of Marlon.

In the Investigations section is information about the Detective Bureau. Headings include Arson, Cold Cases and Most Wanted Criminals, and the Gang Unit, known internally as "The Wolf Pack."

Text in the Gang Unit segment includes an explanation of a gang: "Any group showing a willingness to use violence to claim or defend territory, attack rival gangs, extort or rob or display other criminal behavior." Warning signs that an individual has joined a gang are described, as are reasons why people join gangs.

The Most Wanted section focuses on Henry S. Rivera, Felipe Victorio Herrara, Soumahoro Mussa and Jose A. Garcia Jr., and offers brief histories of their alleged crimes.

Rivera, 21, is wanted in connection with the Dec. 15, 1996, fatal shooting of William C. Brooks at an apartment at 8 May St. Two other men involved in the killing, Frank Bernardo Feliz and Raul Serrano, were convicted and are serving state prison sentences.

Herrera, 28, is wanted in the Nov. 7, 1993, fatal shooting of 2-year-old Keila Morales while she slept in a one-room apartment at 7 Woodland St.

Mussa, about 20, is wanted in the Jan. 12, 1996, shooting death of Rohan Mills on Birch Street. The death was the result of long-running feud between the two, according to police.

Garcia is wanted on drug charges stemming from a lengthy investigation of drug trafficking the city. The investigation, dubbed Operation Tune Up by police, led to more than 30 drug arrests in August 1995.

TWO CAUGHT

Michael McDonald and Edwin Calderon, who also are on the list, have been captured. They were charged in the shooting death of 23-year-old Raymond A. Barbour during a June 11 home invasion and robbery at 45 Charlotte St.

"We have to brag a little bit," Rosario said of adding the two captured men to the list.

The Most Wanted page has generated some responses to police, but the four fugitives probably left Massachusetts for good, the detective believes.

Another section, called Live In Peace, features an anti-gang, anti-violence segment with scenes from a fictitious drive-by shooting that uses city youths as actors, as well as a music video.

The video was put together in 1996 and added to the Web site last year. The video earned two national film awards, the CINE Golden Eagle Award and Bronze Telly award, Rosario noted.

The video is shown in city schools, and the Middlesex district attorney's office also has made copies.

January 28, 1999

JUDGE DENIES CHANGE IN BAIL FOR CASTILLO

Author: Gary V. Murray; TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER - Bail remained at $50,000 cash yesterday for Jose Castillo, the former foster father of missing baby Marlon Devine Santos, despite the prosecution's urging that it be increased and a request by Castillo's lawyer for a bail reduction.

Castillo, 52, formerly of 175 Eastern Ave., is charged with raping an 11-year-old girl in 1992 and sexually assaulting two foster daughters who lived in his home in 1997 and last year.

The allegations came to light during a police investigation into the Nov. 5 disappearance of 5-month-old Marlon from the home of Castillo and his wife, Yolanda I. Castillo, the infant's foster parents. The Castillos did not report the disappearance to police until Nov. 7 and have since declined to cooperate with authorities.

The Castillos had cared for more than 50 state Department of Social Services-sponsored foster children during the 1990s.

Castillo, pastor of the Iglesia Abrigo del Altisimo church at 623 Lincoln St., was arraigned on the sexual assault charges Dec. 28 in Worcester Central District Court. His bail was set at $50,000 cash or $500,000 with surety. Castillo has since been held in lieu of bail at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction.

Yesterday, Castillo's lawyer, Eduardo Velazquez, asked Judge Austin T. Philbin to reduce bail to $25,000 cash, an amount he said had been raised by family members, parishioners and other supporters.

Velazquez said the basis for his request was twofold. He told Philbin it was his understanding the alleged rape victim was "a reluctant witness, at best" and did not want to testify against Castillo.

Velazquez said he also understood one of the two former foster children who were allegedly sexually assaulted testified at a Juvenile Court proceeding before the charges were lodged against Castillo that no indecent touching had occurred.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas E. Landry asked Philbin to increase Castillo's bail to $100,000 cash or $1 million with surety.

Landry said the prosecution's initial request for $50,000 cash bail was based on the nature of the charges against Castillo, Castillo's ties to New York and Wisconsin, and the fact that he is a native of Puerto Rico.

Since the time of the arraignment, Landry said, it has come to the prosecution's attention that Castillo "appears" to have an "extensive" criminal record in Puerto Rico that includes robbery and armed robbery charges dating back to the 1970s, as well as a fugitive charge.

Landry said investigators were still trying to determine whether there were any outstanding charges against Castillo in Puerto Rico and had received "conflicting information."

Regarding the defense claims concerning the two alleged victims, Landry said it was "not unusual" for an adolescent victim of an alleged sex crime to be reluctant to come to court to testify.

"That does not mean that she will not testify," Landry said.

He also said the other two alleged victims, as recently as a few weeks ago, reported incidents that would constitute indecent assault and battery. There has been no indication since then that they are unwilling to cooperate with prosecutors, Landry said.

Philbin kept Castillo's bail at $50,000 cash and continued the case to Feb. 26 for a probable cause hearing.

The Rev. Anibal Garcia, pastor of Iglesia Pentecostal La Luz del Mundo church in Leominster for the last 18 years, was one of several Castillo supporters in court yesterday.

Garcia said it was his opinion the sexual assault allegations against Castillo were false and that investigators brought the charges in hopes of pressuring Castillo into providing information concerning baby Marlon's disappearance, information Garcia does not believe Castillo has.

Other supporters said they had been repeatedly questioned by police, despite having told investigators they knew nothing of the child's disappearance.

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday the investigation into the missing baby was ongoing.

"We are very much still working on it," Conte said, declining further comment.

February 4, 1999

NATIONAL CENTER TRIED TO HELP IN MARLON CASE \ WORCESTER POLICE

Author: Emilie Astell; TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER - Two weeks after 5-month-old Marlon Devine Santos disappeared from his foster home, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offered to post information about the case and the baby's picture on its Web site.

Worcester police declined the offer, deciding instead to place details about the missing infant on its own Web page.

Thirteen weeks have passed since Marlon disappeared, but police do not appear any closer to solving the case.

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte yesterday would say only that investigators continue to track down leads. He declined further comment.

Charles H. Pickett, a case manager at the Arlington, Va.-based missing children's center, said the Police Department's reluctance to use the agency's services, which are worldwide in scope, left him feeling as though he was unable to communicate with the Worcester Police Department.

Pickett, who was assigned by his agency to the Santos case, said he spoke with Detective Sgt. Michael A. Towner on Nov. 19 when the sergeant called to report the disappearance.

"I've been in touch with the department a couple of times," Pickett said yesterday. "They reacted real positive when they contacted us right off the bat. But as those days progressed and I did a follow-up, they said they don't need to go that way."

Pickett said he assumed police had local suspects and did not want to search beyond the Worcester area. He said he intends to call Worcester police again to offer the center's help.

CENTER WILLING TO HELP

Deputy Chief James M. Gallagher and Capt. Paul F. Campbell, head of the Detective Bureau, said that they did not know why the center's offer to assist was turned down.

Gallagher said it could have had something to do with the timing of the request.

"When you begin an investigation and you're early into it following hot leads, chances are the hot leads are local," Gallagher said. "We had a good feeling in the beginning that we might find the baby. To put that on a Web site so early in the case, it would have inundated us with wrong steers. We wanted to concentrate on hot leads or on those most likely to lead to a good conclusion."

He conceded that it "probably wouldn't hurt" to allow the center to post information about Marlon on its Web site.

The baby was reported missing by his foster parents, Jose and Yolanda I. Castillo, on Nov. 7 - two days after he disappeared from the Castillos' home at 175 Eastern Ave. The Castillos had been approved as foster parents by the state Department of Social Services, and had cared for more than 50 foster children since 1993.

Jose Castillo subsequently was arrested on charges of raping an 11-year-old girl in 1992 and sexually assaulting two foster daughters who lived in his home in 1997 and last year. He remains in custody on $50,000 cash bail.

Conte said his office is preparing to take the rape and assault charges to a grand jury this month or in March.

Pickett said he had the feeling there was a communication gap between himself and Towner and Sgt. Mark Richardson. Towner and Richardson were not available for comment when calls were placed to the Police Department yesterday.

"They had an answer for everywhere ...," said Pickett. "It was the South talking to the North. They have their own Web site. They didn't understand the international capabilities of ours. We're in the missing kid business all the time."

If the concern was that posting the information on baby Marlon would draw hundreds of leads and put a drain on personnel, Pickett noted that the center has specialists who travel to law enforcement agencies to screen the leads. There is no charge to the local police department, he added.

PHOTOS COMPUTER-ENHANCED

The center also can alter photos of missing children to reflect the likely changes in looks with aging. If Marlon is alive, he is about 9 months old and his features have changed since he disappeared, Pickett noted.

Computer-enhanced photos usually are done of missing children starting at age 2 because their facial features are more clearly defined, according to Pickett. But a computer-enhanced photo of Marlon could be of benefit to Worcester police now, he added.

The private, nonprofit center uses a computer network linked to information clearing houses in all 50 states, as well as the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Britain's Scotland Yard. The center's computer system also is linked to the Belgium Gendarmerie, police in the Netherlands, the Australia National Police, Interpol, the U.S. Secret Service Forensic Services and the U.S. Department of State.

The center provides photos and posters, imaging identification, queries and database searches, nationwide missing child alerts and training in several areas, including how to prevent infant abductions.

Picket noted that one missing child case solved by use of the center's Web site involved an 18-month-old girl abducted nine years ago in San Diego. The child was found two years ago by an Interpol agent in Puerto Rico scrolling through the center's Web pages.

The only available picture of the child was taken when she was 18 months old. It had not been age-enhanced. The agent who saw the picture on the Internet called Pickett and said he'd found the child. The girl had been abducted by a stranger, but was returned to her parents.

"That was just as stupid and as crazy as the case in Massachusetts," Pickett said.

October 31, 1999

Police suspend search for missing baby

Author: ERIC CONVEY, Boston Herald

BOYLSTON - Investigators yesterday suspended the search for the body of a 5-month-old baby who disappeared from a Worcester foster home nearly a year ago.

Some of the roughly 30 searchers who scoured woods near the Wachusett Reservoir for a second straight day found material that could be evidence in the case of missing Marlon Devine Santos. But it's "nothing major," said one searcher, declining to specify what was recovered.

Police dogs from Connecticut trained to find cadavers joined the effort for several hours yesterday.

Crews went over an area the size of two football fields, Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte said. He could not be reached for comment after the search was suspended, but another law enforcement official said there are no immediate plans to return to the site.

On Friday, teams found plastic that Conte said might have been used to wrap the baby's body and also clothing that could potentially be linked to his disappearance last November. But DNA testing and other laboratory analyses will be necessary before the relevance of the items could be established, Conte said. He declined to give a timetable.

The hunt for physical evidence in the woods - sparked by a "credible" tip - is only one part of a "two-pronged" probe, Conte added yesterday.

"We're re-interviewing witnesses . . . we think in many cases, the truth wasn't exactly there."

Santos' foster mother, Yolanda Casillo, waited two days after allegedly finding the 5-month-old baby missing from her Worcester home before telling police.

The baby's foster father, Jose Castillo, is in prison awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing foster children.

Also yesterday, the lawyer for Santos' biological mother, Dina Santos, said she has begun to accept the possibility her son is dead. Marlon was taken from her when he was several weeks old. She is now in prison on drug charges.

"At this point, she still is holding out hope that her baby is safe and that the baby will grow up and live a normal, happy life," said the lawyer, Allan Garfinkle.

"She has mixed emotions right now. She's heartbroken. . . . She never lost hope that the baby would be home."

November 1, 1999

LEADS INDICATE BABY BURIED IN WOODED AREA

Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

Author: Emilie Astell

WORCESTER - Investigators are expected to continue their search this week in a wooded area at Wachusett Reservoir in Boylston for the body of Marlon Devine Santos, who disappeared a year ago this month.

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday that investigators are looking into the feasibility of using equipment that can detect buried remains.

Conte said information was supplied to investigators indicating that the infant was buried in a heavily wooded area near a recognizable tree and what looks like a cave off Route 70.

"We are digging up the ground," Conte said. "It's a very prodigious task to locate a body in this type of area. There is undergrowth, and it is filled with layers of leaves and dirt and other things."

He declined to comment on the cause of death.

Jose M. and Yoland I. Castillo first reported to police on Nov. 7 that their foster child Marlon, then 5 months old, had disappeared from their Worcester home at 175 Eastern Ave. two days earlier.

Investigators began digging in the suspected area Tuesday, but searchers were not at work yesterday. Metropolitan District Commission and forestry personnel were patrolling to keep the curious away, Conte said. Anyone found in the search area will be asked to leave, he added.

Just a few days ago, there was hope that the child might still be alive, but Conte said yesterday information supplied to investigators indicates he was buried in the woods.

"We treated this as a homicide from Day One," Conte said, despite considering a number of other theories, such as abduction, accidental death or that the child had been sold.

State and Worcester police investigators last week used dogs trained to detect cadavers, Conte said. On Saturday, Connecticut State Police dogs were used.

Although the child's body was not found, bits of clothing, plastic and a diaper have been recovered from the general search area. Results of DNA and chemical tests on the recovered items were not completed yesterday, he said.

As the search continues, investigators are also attempting to question all of those who had been questioned earlier.

"We'll try to reinterview quite a few people," Conte said. "We believe that in some of the initial interviews, the truth was not forthcoming. People who are concerned, for the most part, were very uncooperative with police."

Two new witnesses in the case have supplied a number of details, he said. Much of what they said has been confirmed by police.

Conte declined to identify any suspects in the case.

When police first learned of the child's disappearance, Mrs. Castillo told investigators that she had left Marlon and two other foster children, a brother and sister, ages 23 months and 3 years, alone in the family home for about 45 minutes while she went to pick up her two biological children from school. When she returned, she said, Marlon was gone.

Mrs. Castillo is now living in Leominster with her 18-year-old daughter and the Castillos' two children.

Castillo, 52, who was pastor of Iglesia Abrigo del Altisimo church at 623 Lincoln St., was arrested in December 1998 on child rape and indecent assault and battery charges involving two former foster daughters and an 11-year-old female.

Those charges are pending. Castillo continues to be held in lieu of $100,000 cash bail while awaiting trial.

Marlon's mother, Dina Santos, 26, is serving a six-month sentence at Framingham state prison for violation of probation on a drug conviction.

November 3, 1999

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT IN MARLON SEARCH

Author: Gary V. Murray, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

WORCESTER - A police search for the remains of a 5-month-old baby who vanished a year ago this week will resume tomorrow .

District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday that state and local police would return tomorrow to an area off Route 70 in Boylston where investigators believe the body of Marlon Devine Santos may be buried. This time, the searchers will be assisted by employees of a Northboro company, Weston Geophysical Corp., using high-tech geological equipment capable of detecting buried remains, Conte said.

Officials of Weston Geophysical said through a company spokesman that they would not discuss the equipment or its capabilities until the search was completed. Conte said it would take two days to cover the entire search area.

Weston Geophysical is donating the use of its equipment and the manpower to run it as a public service, according to Conte.

On Nov. 7, 1998, Jose M. and Yolanda I. Castillo, the baby's foster parents, reported to police that Marlon had disappeared from their Eastern Avenue home two days earlier.

Mrs. Castillo said she left Marlon and two other foster children alone for about 45 minutes while she went to pick up her two biological children from school. When she returned, she told police, Marlon was gone.

Acting on information provided by two sources, investigators spent three days last week searching a wooded area along Route 70 near Wachusett Reservoir for the child's remains. Although no body was found, police recovered torn clothing, a diaper and pieces of plastic. Investigators were told that the baby's body may have been wrapped in plastic.

Testing on the potential pieces of evidence is being conducted at the state police crime lab in Sudbury. Conte said yesterday that the testing had not been completed.

Meanwhile, the district attorney said police have received information from a third source corroborating many of the things they had been told earlier.

"We now have a third person substantiating much of our information," Conte said. He declined to identify sources or comment on possible suspects.

If the search tomorrow and Friday is unsuccessful, police may redirect their efforts to another location, according to Conte.

"Depending on what occurs here, we may very well focus on another site," he said.

Jose Castillo, a 53-year-old Pentecostal minister, was arrested in December on charges of sexually assaulting three young girls. The sexual assault allegations surfaced during the police investigation into Marlon's disappearance, but are not related to it.

A hearing on defense motions to dismiss those charges was scheduled for today in Worcester Superior Court.

December 3, 1999

MARLON CLOTHING CONTAINS NO CLUES

Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

Author: Shaun Sutner

Laboratory analysis of a dozen items recovered during the search for missing foster child Marlon Devine Santos has failed to detect any bodily tissues or fluids that could lead investigators to suspects in the child's disappearance.

The negative findings mean authorities will be unable to use DNA testing, and indicate they have reached a virtual dead end in at least the part of the investigation that involves physical evidence.

The items include pieces of clothing and plastic, which investigators believe were used to wrap the child, and a diaper. They were found by police during five days of intensive searching of two wooded areas near the Wachusett Reservoir in Boylston in late October and early November.

The searches involved more than 75 police officers combing the woods and using police dogs and sophisticated ground radar. The searches were prompted by information from unidentified police sources.

"The testing of these items failed to disclose any hair, blood, or other bodily fluids," District Attorney John J. Conte said in a press release issued yesterday. "As a result of these findings, we will be unable to go forward with any DNA testing."

Mr. Conte did not return messages seeking additional comment on the investigation.

Five-month-old Marlon disappeared from the Worcester foster home of Yolanda and Jose Castillo in early November 1998.

Investigators had been eagerly awaiting the results of the analysis, which was performed at the state police crime laboratory in Sudbury. The results apparently were received yesterday.

The failure to come up with DNA evidence does not necessarily mean that there has been no progress in the investigation.

Mr. Conte, in his press release, stated that the investigation is continuing. Worcester police detectives, who are pursuing the case along with state police detectives assigned to Mr. Conte's office, last month followed up several new tips from sources.

Mr. Castillo has been in jail since December 1998 on child sexual abuse charges that surfaced after Marlon's disappearance. He is charged with sexually assaulting three girls, including two of the more than 50 children he and his wife cared for as foster parents for the state Department of Social Services.

November 16, 1998

CUSTODY HEARING ON MISSING CHILD IN QUESTION DSS OFFICIALS WAITING TO SEE IF INFANT IS FOUND

Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff and Catherine Ivey, Globe Correspondent

WORCESTER -- A status hearing scheduled in August to determine whether Dina Santos should regain custody of her 5-month-old son Marlon may not happen Friday unless the child, who disappeared from his foster home last week, is found.

Department of Social Services spokeswoman Lorraine Carli said the standard court appearance, arranged in August when the state took the boy away from his mother, would be pointless while the child is missing.

Marlon Devine Santos disappeared on Nov. 5 from the home of his foster parents, Jose and Yolanda Castillo after he was left in the unlocked house by his foster mother. However, neither of the foster parents reported him missing for more than two days.

"I'm not sure that it will happen or not," Carli said, adding that a decision would likely not be made "up until the last minute."

The baby's biological father, William Kahanic, upset that he did not know the boy was in foster care, told the state he would attend the hearing, Carli said.

Kahanic, who had a brief relationship with Santos, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

"It's really very early in this case for there to be a determination one way or another around the permanent goals of this child," Carli said.

Also yesterday, 48 hours after Jose Castillo told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette he would "not stop preaching for anything," the Pentecostal pastor did not show up to lead thrice-weekly services at Iglesia Abrigo del Altisimo Pentecostal Church here.

An unidentified replacement at the small storefront church led about 30 worshipers in prayer, including Castillo's brother, Manuel, who said he did not know where Jose was.

None of the other congregants would speak to a reporter.

Yesterday was the first time Castillo missed church since the baby disappeared from the small red home on Eastern Avenue he shared with his wife, their children, and two other toddler foster children who were removed when the baby was reported missing.

Only the Castillo's pet chihuaha appeared to be at the home yesterday. A towel covered a side-door window, apparently for privacy.

Neither the Castillos nor their lawyer, John Capone, returned phone calls.

November 16, 1998

MISSING INFANT PROMPTS SCRUTINY OF STATE AGENCY

Emilie Astell; TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER - State legislators are considering taking a closer look at the Department of Social Services following the disappearance of 5-month-old Marlon Devine Santos, who was living with a foster family.

The infant was reported missing Nov. 5 from the home of Jose and Yolanda I. Castillo of 175 Eastern Ave. Since then, neither the infant's biological mother, Dina Santos of Worcester, nor the Castillos have cooperated with the police investigation. All have retained legal counsel, as has the child's biological father, William H. Kahanic of Spencer.

As of yesterday, it was difficult to determine whether police had made any headway. Detectives working on the investigation were not at the station.

But legislators familiar with the DSS said the disappearance points out the need for a closer look at the agency.

"We completely overhauled DSS three years ago," said state Sen. Therese Murray, D-Plymouth. "We added millions of dollars to their account, established bridge homes, lowered caseload counts, expedited adoptions and increased payments to foster care. All that hasn't worked. In the past six months, it's evident to us we need to revisit the agency."

As Senate chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs, Murray said, she has kept abreast of the Santos case.

The DSS placed the baby with the Castillo family in August. Late on the night of Nov. 7, a Saturday, the Castillos told police the infant had been missing since the afternoon of Nov. 5, when Yolanda Castillo drove to nearby East Middle School to pick up two of her own children. Alone in the house with the baby were two other foster children, ages 2 and 3.

Murray said she could not comprehend how a mother could leave three young children unattended, for any length of time.

ARREST DENIED

Police said the foster father, Jose Castillo, was arrested by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration on marijuana distribution charges and began serving a 10-year sentence in 1982 in Alabama. However, Castillo said police are wrong, and that he was not the person involved in that case.

Murray said criminal background checks are done for prospective foster parents within the state, but there is no criminal registry nationwide that could be tapped.

While Congress may be responsible for acting nationally, she said, the state needs to do a better job of checking backgrounds.

"Obviously, this agency is never going to work 100 percent, because it's never going to be perfect," Murray said yesterday. "We're dealing with damaged children and damaged families, but we've got to pay attention to caseloads and the people we give these children to."

Legislators wanted the caseload per social worker dropped to 18, but Murray said she recently learned the caseload is still at 26 - far too many for one person to handle effectively.

The DSS placed Marlon Santos in foster care when the agency received a report that Dina Santos was allegedly neglecting the child. The baby had tested positive for drugs at birth.

WITH FRIENDS

The mother had left the baby with friends in the Main South neighborhood and had made plans to flee the state ahead of DSS officials, according to Tracy Schlegel of Northboro. Schlegel took care of the infant briefly last summer as a favor while Dina Santos was living at the Public Inebriate Program shelter in Worcester.

Another committee member, state Sen. David P. Magnani, D-Framingham, said the degree of oversight that foster parents receive may be the key issue in the Santos' case as well as in others.

"Changing the law and excluding felons from being foster parents doesn't fix the problem," Magnani said. "DSS needs staff and expertise to look into a case like this. There are so few foster placements and so few people willing to take in foster children."

The state tries to fix many of the problems associated with foster care without spending money, Magnani said, but ends up paying many times over when serious mistakes are made.

Rather than creating new laws, he said, the state should give DSS the resources and expertise it needs to do the job. Then it would be up to the administration to police the agency, he added.

`SCAPEGOATING'

"It's possible," Magnani said, "to look at the overall record of the DSS and whether they are doing as much as they can do. Or, does holding them accountable mean replacing personnel? Doing that without resources is scapegoating."

Three years ago, the state Senate held hearings concerning DSS after several children in foster care had been hurt or killed.

State Sen. Robert A. Bernstein, D-Worcester, said the state needs to provide necessary resources to the DSS, but also needs to hold the agency accountable for its actions.

"If this situation doesn't cry out for an overhaul, I don't know what does," Bernstein said. "I expect the administration to undertake changes."

"This child should not have been put in this situation," he added. "The threshold question is are we doing what we're charged with doing: protecting these kids?"

November 15, 1998

POLICE EYE DETAILS IN MISSING BABY CASE QUESTIONS PERPLEX AS PROBE CONTINUES

Ellen O'Brien, Globe Staff

Nine November days have passed and tiny Marlon Devine Santos was still missing last night.

Still, each day that ends without a trace of the 5-month-old boy brings renewed hope for investigators that he will be discovered safe.

He was born to parents who met years ago at a Worcester food bank and were connected through a network of social service agencies and friends who roamed the streets in search of cans.

Just two months after his June 5 birthday, Marlon entered the state's foster care system, taken from a mother investigators said was unable to care for him and who believed the baby would be better off with a foster family than with his father.

Now the baby is at the center of a riveting mystery that has many people hoping for a happy ending.

Beginning with Marlon's Nov. 5 disappearance from his Worcester foster home, and his foster mother's reported decision to wait more than 48 hours to report him missing, the investigation has been marked by strange details and accusations.

On Friday night, the boy's foster father, Jose Castillo, 52, a Pentecostal minister, reportedly told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette that he is not connected in any way to the disappearance, saying: "In due time, God will put everything in its place."

Efforts to reach Castillo yesterday were unsuccessful.

During the week, investigators learned that Castillo was convicted years ago of distributing marijuana in Florida, and that has renewed the debate over how employers and state agencies can receive full criminal backgrounds.

Employers now have access only to the Massachussetts criminal histories of would-be foster parents and other caregivers.

Before Marlon's disappearance, the Castillos for years provided a home for foster children and were considered reliable, according to Lorraine Carli, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services.

The boy's biological parents and his foster parents retained legal counsel as detectives began speculating on who among them might be suspects.

Neither Yolanda nor Jose Castillo, the baby's foster parents, nor Dina Santos, the baby's biological mother, are speaking to detectives, police say.

"Nothing would surprise me at this point," said the baby's father, William Kahanic, 27, reached yesterday in his Spencer apartment. "I can't believe this is happening."

Kahanic spoke above the voices of his two other young children, who visit him on weekends. He said he met Santos years ago and the two became friends while his marriage was dissolving. They shared a brief summer romance last year, he said, and lived together for a short time.

Yesterday Kahanic continued to criticize DSS, saying the agency was ultimately responsible for the safety of the boy and should have contacted him when Santos was determined to be temporarily incapable of providing a home for him.

Because noncustodial parents are often the first people that investigators check up on when a baby is missing, police are looking into Santos's recent activity. Santos could not be reached for comment yesterday.

When she reported the baby missing on the night of Nov. 7, Yolanda Castillo told police she had left him at home with two other young foster children, ages 1 and 3, because they were asleep and she needed to pick up her older children from school.

A neighbor has told investigators and reporters that Yolanda Castillo was outside searching the bushes the afternoon of Nov. 5.

She allegedly drove that Saturday to New York to pick up her husband, who was traveling on church business, before she told police of the missing child.

Police say the foster mother told them she was afraid to report the child missing without her husband with her.

Both Santos and the Castillos have relatives and friends in New York City and, since both visited the city last year, New York police reportedly are helping with the investigation.

It is unclear whether Santos knew her baby was in foster care in Worcester.

November 15, 1998

Foster father denies criminal past

Jules Crittenden, Boston Herald

A foster father under investigation in the disappearance of a foster baby in Worcester said he does not have a criminal past, according to a published report.

Jose Castillo and his wife, Yolanda, have refused to answer police questions about a baby who disappeared Nov. 5 while in their care. He acknowledged having a drug conviction when confronted by the Boston Herald Thursday.

But Castillo told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette Friday that he is not the man with the same name and birthdate who was convicted of a federal marijuana distribution charge and served two years of a 10-year sentence.

Castillo refused to speak with a Herald reporter outside his storefront Pentecostal church Friday, and efforts to contact his lawyer last week were unsuccessful.

"Once everything clears up in this case, people will know the things they have said about me are not true," Castillo told the Telegram. On reports of a criminal past, he said, "They already have me convicted and prejudged. That is a lie. That is wrong."

On Thursday, Castillo was approached by a Herald reporter who asked if he had told the Department of Social Services about his drug conviction. Castillo said he had.

The Telegram also reported that Castillo's son, Jose Castillo Jr., who also lives at the foster house at 175 Eastern Ave., is serving a one-year sentence for carrying a firearm without a license and is wanted on other charges in Texas and Puerto Rico.

Police told the Herald and the Telegram that the elder Castillo has a federal drug conviction from the early 1980s.

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that police are awaiting fingerprints to confirm that the convicted man is the Jose Castillo involved in this case.

Yesterday, Worcester police did not respond to repeated calls from the Herald and have said they will make no further statements until there is a development in the case.

The investigation has been stalled by the refusal of the foster parents and the natural mother to speak with police. The natural father has been cleared as a suspect.

The Telegram also reported that foster infant Marlon Devine Santos, 5 months old, was born cocaine-addicted and that his mother, Dina Santos, was making plans to flee the state with her son when the Department of Social Services took him.

Tracy Schlegel of Northboro told the Telegram she briefly cared for the infant when he was left with her by Santos.

"He had been given spoiled bottles of milk and had a rash all over him," said Schlegel, who took the baby to a pediatrician and cleaned him up. "He looked horrible. He had dirty things on and no diapers."

Schlegel said she called DSS, apparently starting the process that led to little Marlon being taken into the Castillo foster home.

Dina Santos, who has been living in homeless shelters, has a criminal record that includes three assaults with dangerous weapons, drug possession and shoplifting.

Police want to determine whether she knew the location of the foster home at the time of the disappearance.

Before she stopped cooperating with police, Yolanda Castillo said she left Marlon and two foster toddlers sleeping alone in the unlocked house for about 45 minutes while she went to pick up her older children on Nov. 5.

She said she came back and found Marlon gone but the toddlers still there. But she did not report the disappearance until Nov. 7, after returning from a day trip to New York to pick up her husband, who reportedly was there on church business.

November 14, 1998

DOUBLE STANDARD IS SEEN IN BABY CASE

Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Her transformation was swift. Dina Santos, one day the grieving woman whose infant son had disappeared from a Worcester foster home, was turned overnight into a possible suspect in the apparent abduction of the 5-month-old.

What had changed, police said, was her level of cooperation. Called in for questioning Wednesday morning, Santos had assisted investigators for just a few minutes before walking out and obtaining a public defender.

Like the boy's foster parents, who had not reported the baby missing for two days and refused to cooperate with Worcester police in their initial questioning, Santos had apparently inflamed suspicions by hiring a lawyer.

Now, as the disappearance of Marlon Devine Santos continues to mystify some, the legal implications of the case have become confounding as well. Some lawyers fret that merely obtaining legal representation has somehow come to imply guilt.

Many in law enforcement and the public believe parents of imperiled children should be panicked and should be offering unencumbered aid to police rather than relying on lawyers -- as the parents of JonBenet Ramsey have done -- said Boston trial attorney Henry F. Owens III.

"If your daughter is missing and law enforcement is trying to find her, why would you not want to talk to them, unless you have something to hide?" he said.

But the strategy is obvious for some defense attorneys who say that, in the initial stages of an investigation, the lawyer would want to shield most information -- particularly if police are thought to be suspicious of his client.

"There's a Catch-22," said Jack Cinquegrana, a private attorney and former county and federal prosecutor. "Your first job is to make sure the authorities don't have a view of your clients that makes them a target of the investigation . . . You can't bring your clients in to talk to cops who are predisposed not to believe them."

Yet that reticence is read by many as evidence of wrongdoing, as Worcester Police Lieutenant Loman Rutherford suggested to reporters Wednesday, in speaking of Santos. "If you don't do anything wrong, and you want the police to help find your baby, you're not going to clam up on us," he said.

The following day, police backed off a bit, saying they simply weren't getting full cooperation from either Santos, 25, or the foster parents, Yolanda and Jose Castillo. In fact, Yolanda Castillo's decision to hire a lawyer and stop cooperating with investigators first drew suspicion to her, police have said.

Some lawyers say it is a battle they fight regularly; their mere presence is sometimes seen as incriminating.

"This is a litigious society and people can hire lawyers," said attorney Norman Zalkind. "It doesn't mean anything. But it does mean something to the prosecutors and police. In their minds, if people get lawyers, maybe they've done something wrong. The police don't want you to get lawyers, they want to do their investigation unhindered. That's how people hurt themselves very badly."

Suspect or not, people are far more willing today to call a lawyer to protect themselves, he said. Even a frantic mother, innocently trying to help an investigation, could feel intimidated in the course of a police interview and seek legal aid, he said.

"You might say something to police, but then you go down to the police station and they act like you're a suspect," Zalkind said.

In the Ramsey case in Boulder, Colo., the parents of the slain 6-year-old have said that they were insulted to have been considered suspects, and that an interrogation would have wasted their time. But John and Patty Ramsey engendered suspicion by refusing to submit to a police interview for four months after their daughter, a beauty pageant winner, was found strangled in their basement in December 1996. Armed with lawyers and a spokesman, they have done little to help the investigation, police have said.

Regardless of an individual's willingness to talk, police are likely to turn a skeptical eye to family members, said Zalkind and others; often, those closest to a victim turn out to be the perpetrators.

"Who else in the world has an interest in taking and/or hurting that child?" asked Cinquegrana. "It's the answer to that question that leads you to the subjects of your investigation."

Conversely, Massachusetts residents know all too well that the apperance of cooperation with an investigation hardly connotes innocence. Last September, Edward Donahue led a team of about 100 marchers to focus attention on the disappearance of his wife, Elaine, of Reading, and pleaded publicly for help in finding her.

Donahue allowed police to search the house -- even the basement where her battered body was hidden -- balking only at their request to bring in a body-sniffing dog. Though many people suspected Donahue, police needed weeks to piece together evidence to charge him with his wife's murder. He was convicted of first-degree murder in May.

Certainly, many legal specialists said, getting an attorney should not suggest guilt or innocence.

"We do have to be careful before we jump to assumptions on something like that," said John Larivee, executive director of the Crime and Justice Foundation. "I'm sure if any one of us felt we were under scrutiny for anything like this we would want legal guidance.

November 14, 1998

FOSTER FATHER SAYS HE IS NOT GUILTY OF ANY WRONGDOING

Chris Echegaray; TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER - Jose Castillo, the foster father of a 5-month-old boy missing since Nov. 5, briefly ended his silence yesterday to declare that he is innocent of any crime related to the baby's disappearance.

"Once everything clears up in this case, people will know the things they have said about me are not true," Castillo, a Pentecostal minister, said in Spanish. "In due time, God will put everything into place."

Castillo, 52, and his wife, Yolanda, who live at 175 Eastern Ave., were the foster parents of Marlon Devine Santos, who wasn't reported missing to police until about 11:30 p.m. Nov. 7. Castillo was out of town, and his wife had left the baby and two other foster children unattended when Marlon disappeared, police were told.

Police have said the Castillos have declined to be interviewed about the missing baby.

During a 25-minute interview yesterday afternoon, Castillo said he would not answer questions about the case. He said he is to meet Monday with his lawyer.

"It's not that I don't want to talk. I can't," Castillo said. "My lawyer has told me that I can't right now."

Castillo said the pressure, primarily from the media, has forced him to stay with relatives.

"It's been incredible," he said. "I have people barging into my home."

Castillo is pastor at Iglesia Abrigo del Altisimo, 623 Lincoln St., also referred to as the Most High Pentecostal Church. He said the congregation has 70 members.

"It's not easy for me as a pastor right now," Castillo said. "I'm not going to stop preaching for anything. I am a pastor."

Cleanshaven and wearing a crisp suit, Castillo was at the small, storefront church on Lincoln Street last night before a 7 p.m. service started, but left shortly afterward. He was scheduled to preach at the service, but had not returned as of 8:30 p.m.

His brother, Manuel Castillo of Bronx, N.Y., told the 33 people attending the service that his brother had to leave to attend to some important business. Manuel Castillo conducted the service.

Mrs. Castillo was not at the service.

A Telegram & Gazette reporter was allowed inside the church on the condition that he only observe and not ask any questions.

During the service, there was considerable singing and chanting of hymns. In the Pentecostal church, women are not allowed to wear makeup, earrings, or skirts that are shorter than knee-length.

Before of the start of the church service, Jose Castillo gave orders to a church member to call police to remove news reporters and photographers gathered outside the rear entrance to the church.

During the interview earlier in the day, Castillo denied that he was convicted of a drug charge in Florida. Police have said that Castillo was convicted of marijuana distribution in Florida and served two years in a federal prison.

"They already have me convicted and prejudged," Castillo said. "That is a lie. That is wrong."

Lorraine Carli, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services, yesterday said she was unaware of Castillo's criminal record, noting that DSS is not privy to records outside of Massachusetts.

Jose Castillo said he moved here from Puerto Rico six years ago. Yolanda Castillo has cared for 51 foster children since January 1991. The two were married in 1992.

November 14, 1998

MOTHER TRIED TO EVADE DSS SCRUTINY \ SANTOS ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO

George B. Griffin; TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER - The mother of a 5-month-old boy who is missing from the custody of the Department of Social Services attempted to take him out of state last summer to avoid DSS investigators, the Telegram & Gazette has learned.

That and other recent disclosures have raised disturbing new questions about the fate of Marlon Devine Santos, who has been missing since Nov. 5 from the home of his foster parents, Jose and Yolanda I. Castillo.

The infant, according to authorities familiar with the case, was born addicted to drugs and tested positive at a toxicology screening shortly after his birth.

Police and others familiar with the infant's birth mother, Dina Santos, said she was living at the city's Public Inebriate Program Shelter in the first weeks following Marlon's arrival. It was during that time that the DSS became increasingly concerned about the welfare of the child and initiated proceedings to take him from his mother.

Tracy Schlegel of Northboro said she was one of several people who took care of the child briefly last summer as a favor while Santos was living at the PIP shelter. She described Santos as someone who openly admitted she cared for the child only as a "meal ticket," and who routinely left the boy with casual acquaintances, or even with strangers.

"I had the baby here at my house," she said. "Dina didn't even know who I was when she gave the baby to me. I took the baby overnight. I could have been a perfect stranger."

Marlon, who was about 2 months old at the time, did not look well, Schlegel said. He was, she said, "all crooked in his spine and wouldn't use one of his arms."

She called her pediatrician to examine Marlon. She cared for the boy, bathing and feeding him and dressing him in clean clothes and diapers.

"He had been given spoiled bottles of milk and had a rash all over him," she said. "He looked horrible. He had dirty things on and no diapers."

Schlegel said the child was much improved when she returned him to his mother. After that, Santos refused to allow her to care for the child again, she said.

Schlegel said she notified the DSS of the child's condition and of her discovery, through friends, that he had tested positive for drugs at birth.

LEAVE MASSACHUSETTS

When Santos learned that she had been reported to the DSS for allegedly neglecting the child, she left the baby with friends in the Main South neighborhood and made plans for them to flee the state ahead of DSS officials, Schlegel said.

The DSS, however, learned where Marlon was being kept and got custody. Detective Capt. Paul F. Campbell said police assisted the DSS in taking the child from the Main South address.

The DSS placed the baby with the Castillo family in August. Late Saturday night, the Castillos told police the infant had been missing since the afternoon of Nov. 5, two days earlier.

They said the boy had been left in the house for 45 minutes with two other foster children, ages 2 and 3, while Mrs. Castillo drove to the nearby East Middle School to pick up two of her own children.

Mrs. Castillo told police that when she returned, the boy was gone.

Jose Castillo was out of town at the time, and did not return until 6 p.m. Saturday, after Mrs. Castillo had driven to New York City to pick him up from his week-long trip.

Although the Castillos returned to Worcester in the evening, they delayed notifying police about the disappearance until 11:30 p.m. They told police the reason was that they could not find a babysitter; Mrs. Castillo's 17-year-old daughter by a previous marriage had cared for the children earlier that day.

For a week now, detectives have conducted an around-the-clock investigation to find the infant. Campbell said police have circulated a missing-person report in jurisdictions throughout New England, and in New York and New Jersey.

He said that Worcester police have not searched outside Massachusetts for the child, and are relying on police in other jurisdictions to follow up on the bulletin.

The Castillos, Santos, and the boy's natural father, William H. Kahanic of Spencer, all have retained legal counsel, police said. Neither the Castillos nor Santos will cooperate in the investigation, according to police.

The investigation has included searches of the Castillos' home at 175 Eastern Ave. and of two vehicles.

Campbell said the searches included the use of a police dog trained to locate the presence of a body. The dog was used in the house, on the grounds, and in nearby areas, as well as in the vehicles.

The dog, Campbell said, found no trace of anything that would indicate the presence of a body, giving police new hope that the boy remains alive.

SON IN JAIL

Since Marlon's disappearance, the Telegram & Gazette has been told that the foster father and Santos have criminal records.

Campbell said Castillo was arrested by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration on marijuana distribution charges, and in 1982 began serving a 10-year sentence in Talladega Federal Prison Camp in Alabama. Campbell said Castillo was placed under the supervision of the U.S. probation office in Miami in September 1984.

However Castillo, in an interview yesterday, denied he had been arrested as police have claimed.

He maintained he was innocent of any wrongdoing, saying that the defendant in the DEA case was someone else.

Federal court and Justice Department documents relating to the case were unavailable from federal archives, and the circumstances of the case could not be independently confirmed.

In the meantime, the newspaper has learned that Jose Castillo Jr., 20, also of 175 Eastern Ave., has been held in the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston since Oct. 7.

Sheriff John M. Flynn said the younger Castillo was sentenced on Nov. 4 to a one-year mandatory jail sentence on a conviction for carrying a firearm without a license. In addition, he is wanted in Texas and Puerto Rico on other charges, Flynn said.

Campbell said the younger Castillo is the foster father's son from a previous marriage.

EJECTED FROM PIP SHELTER

Dina Santos also has a lengthy criminal record. She is facing a hearing next week at which she will seek to regain custody of Marlon. Lorraine Carli, director of public affairs for the DSS, said the criminal record would not necessarily be a permanent barrier to Santos recovering custody.

Kahanic, the boy's father, said his relationship with Santos fell apart after she informed him that her lesbian lover, who was then in prison, would become a part of their lives when she finished serving her sentence.

Kahanic said he had known that Santos was a lesbian when he fathered her child. He said Santos wanted a child for all the "wrong reasons."

Santos, according to police and others, has been kicked out of the PIP shelter and other shelters in Worcester, and has no permanent address. Campbell said Santos at one time was living in an apartment at 50 Franklin St. The apartment was not hers, he said.

Santos, 25, has an adult criminal record dating at least to 1991, when she was convicted in Worcester District Court on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a shod foot, and shoplifting. She was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

In 1992, she was convicted on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.

In 1993, she was arrested on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, a metal chain, and disturbing the peace. She was sentenced to a year in jail on the assault charge, and served nine months of that sentence after violating her probation.

In 1996, she was charged with domestic abuse and sentenced to a year in jail, with 90 days to be served and the remainder of the sentence suspended. She was subsequently committed for nine months of that sentence for violating the terms of that probation.

In 1997, she was convicted of possession of heroin and using a motor vehicle without authority. She was sentenced to 30 days on the motor vehicle charge and 10 days on the heroin charge.

TREATMENT

Carli said that in many cases, the DSS attempts to work with mothers who have drug problems to get them into treatment.

"We would identify with the mother the things she needed to do if she wanted to be able to have the child returned to her," Carli said.

In a case where a mother could show that she was receiving treatment for drug addiction and attempting to improve her life, the DSS would consider restoring parental rights.

November 14, 1998

LITTLE MARLON WAS LOST BEFORE HE WAS MISSING

Dianne WILLIAMSON, Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)

One week after a 5-month-old boy was reported missing from a local foster home, one week after everyone involved has retained lawyers rather than sense, one week after detectives have come up empty and baffled, one sad fact has emerged amid the mystery on Eastern Avenue: Little Marlon Devine Santos was born under a storm cloud.

The infant whose disappearance grows stranger by the hour is the product of a homeless mother whose girlfriend was in jail and a father who kicked the pregnant woman out of his apartment weeks before the birth because he realized he was being used.

William Kahanic said he met Dina Santos at a local food bank and later agreed to impregnate her, even though he knew she was a lesbian, because she assured him he could play a role in the baby's upbringing, Kahanic said yesterday.

"One of the reasons we split up was that I felt she left me out after she got pregnant," said Kahanic, an unemployed Spencer man. "Believe it or not, I'm one of the victims in this case. I never had a chance to raise Marlon."

Marlon never had a chance, either. Born with cocaine in his blood, he was taken from his mother in August and sent to a foster home described as "chaotic and overburdened" by a source familiar with foster parents Jose and Yolanda Castillo.

It was from that home that Marlon vanished. And despite an intense investigation and a flurry of police statements, detectives have absolutely no idea where he is.

"We're kind of in a holding pattern," said a police source. "We don't have any good leads. Everyone is sticking to their original story and no one is talking."

Yesterday, the front porch of the red and white house at 175 Eastern Ave. was filled with baby things: a stroller, a car seat, and a battery-operated swing that carries a now-ironic warning ("Never Leave Baby Unattended"). On the street, television news trucks were camped. Inside, a small dog barked unceasingly.

One major problem with the police investigation is that few of the known facts make sense. For starters, a foster mother with seven years of experience told police that she left Marlon alone with two toddlers for 45 minutes on Nov. 5 while she went to collect her two youngest biological children from school. Then, she failed to report the infant missing for two days. Finally, after giving an initial statement to police, she hired a lawyer and stopped talking.

Meanwhile, rather than cooperate with police, the biological mother has also hired a lawyer. As a result, police have been unable to advance the investigation or check discrepancies in statements.

Police were initially optimistic that the baby would be found alive, based on various interviews that indicated the biological mother was upset that her son had been placed in foster care and wanted him back. DSS sources said it is not unusual for a biological mother and a foster mother to form a bond; perhaps the child had been moved rather than killed or kidnapped.

But that scenario also has problems. As one source put it: "Some 50 foster children have been in and out of this house. Why now? And why wait more than two days to report a child missing? I don't care how distraught you are - you don't wait two days to report the disappearance of a 5-month-old baby."

Kahanic, the biological father, said he picked up Dina Santos on Tuesday and brought her to Eastern Avenue to look at the Castillo foster home. He said Santos blamed him for kicking her out of his apartment, and that he blamed her for losing custody of the child to DSS.

Santos stayed at the Public Inebriate Program shelter after leaving Kahanic's Spencer apartment. She has sought treatment for heroin abuse and has been convicted of charges including assault with a metal chain, shoplifting, possession of a controlled substance and malicious destruction of property.

Kahanic, 27, lives in a tenement-like apartment building in Spencer. He worked delivering pizzas for an acquaintance, but is now unemployed. When he learned that his son had been placed in DSS custody, he said, he tried to call DSS a couple of times, "but I got put on hold." So he hung up.

Kahanic faulted police for failing to find his son and said he planned to "sue the hell out of the foster family and DSS" for negligence. Santos is also interested in a lawsuit and possible financial settlement over the loss of her child.

"I feel that Dina wanted a baby for all the wrong reasons," Kahanic said. "Dina was looking for a security blanket. But if Marlon is alive, most likely he'll end up with me."

Today, 9,000 children have been placed in foster homes by an agency that is frequently under fire and always on the defensive, partly because it screws up but mostly because it fails in a free society to accomplish the impossible: to protect children from people who have no business being parents. Often, DSS is faced with untenable choices and must decide whether to leave a child with an unfit parent or move him to a substandard foster home. When things go wrong - and they often do - the agency is blasted for arrogance or indifference.

On the Monday before Marlon Santos disappeared, a DSS social worker had visited the Castillo home and found no warning signs that anything was amiss, according to agency spokeswoman Lorraine Carli.

"Short of camping out with a foster family 24 hours a day, we're not going to know every move that they make," Carli said. "I'm not sure we could have done anything different to prevent this."

Now that Marlon is gone, lawyers are primed to point fingers and reap rewards. His parents are busy playing the victims and blaming everyone but the real culprits - themselves. And police, left to pick up the pieces, grow more desperate by the hour in their quest to save a little boy who needed saving long before they were called on to help.

November 13, 1998

MYSTERY GROWS OVER MISSING FOSTER BABY NYC POLICE ASSIST PROBE; CHILD BELIEVED TO BE ALIVE

Yvonne Abraham and Catherine Ivey, Globe Correspondents

WORCESTER -- The rickety, red-and-white wooden house on the hill, usually bursting with the lives of six children, and of a couple who led dozens of devoted parishioners, was eerily quiet again yesterday, save for a little dog's high, desperate bark in the basement.

On a bureau just inside the front door, scores of ceramic angels knelt prayerfully over the empty house. A huge portrait of three happy children hung on a wall. A library of children's videos -- "Beethoven," "The Little Rascals," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" -- were neatly arranged on shelves. Enough entertainment to keep young children -- indeed, 51 young foster children since 1991 -- enthralled for days.

But the house is now a potential crime scene, the setting for one of the most vexing mysteries to face the state's oft-criticized system of caring for needy children. The disappearance of one of the foster children in the house, Marlon Devine Santos, born June 5 with a tower of chips stacked against him, continued to confound police and neighbors yesterday.

And for those who live near that house, and hundreds more throughout the state, too much about the story the foster mother, Yolanda Castillo, has told about the infant's disappearance doesn't add up. Why would a woman who to all appearances was a devoted caregiver leave three young children unattended in an unlocked house?

Why, after discovering the child missing, would she wait more than two full days to report it to police?

And why would the missing child's biological mother, whom police originally ruled out as a suspect, and who appeared on television pleading for her son's return through a mist of tears and outrage, suddenly stop cooperating with the investigation?

If police had the answers to any of those questions, they weren't sharing them yesterday.

"Frustration is a mild term to put toward it," Captain Paul Campbell said of the investigation.

On Tuesday, police said their attention had swung toward the baby's mother, Dina Santos. But by yesterday afternoon, they were backtracking slightly, saying they were still scrutinizing Santos, 25, but were careful to note that her surprise decision to retain a lawyer does not necessarily imply any wrongdoing.

They also extended their investigations to New York, and have begun working with that city's police department. Yolanda Castillo drove to the Bronx on Saturday to pick up her husband, Jose -- who was visiting the city on church business, he told police -- without reporting the baby missing, even though she claims he disappeared on Thursday.

But the involvement of the New York City Police Department did not necessarily further implicate the Castillos. The baby's mother, too, had a connection to New York, police said, having lived there until April 1997.

Still, police said, they are optimistic that the infant is alive, and have filed a national missing persons report. "At this point in the investigation, [we] believe that the baby has been abducted as opposed to being murdered," said Detective Lieutenant John J. McKiernan. "We're encouraged by that."

McKiernan, however, added that they have not ruled out homicide.

The Castillos and Dina Santos still refuse to speak to detectives except through their lawyers.

"We're not getting the cooperation we'd like," said McKiernan. "But that's not to say we're not getting any cooperation."

In fact, many parties are behaving in bizarre ways, observers said. The Castillos, both Pentecostal ministers, conducted services last night and then were scheduled to be guests on a tabloid TV show, a state official said.

Meanwhile, police probe the baby's biological parents, and a picture of the first weeks of his young life has come into focus.

Marlon Santos's mother was a troubled woman, with convictions for possession of a controlled substance, malicious destruction of property, violation of a restraining order, assault with a metal chain, disturbing the peace, shoplifting, and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. She did jail time for all but one of those offenses.

The baby's father, William Kahanic, 27, said he and Santos were introduced by a friend, and that their relationship was casual. He said he asked Dina Santos to leave his Spencer apartment before Marlon was born.

When she left him, Kahanic and the DSS said, Santos went to the Worcester Public Inebriates Program, a shelter in one of Worcester's toughest neighborhoods. It is a way-station for homeless addicts and battered women. She also sought treatment at a rehabilitation center for her heroin abuse.

The DSS won custody of the child in August. Department spokeswoman Lorraine Carli would not say whether Santos tried to prevent the department from taking him.

The baby was placed with two pastors of the Most High Pentecostal church, a couple had cared for 50 other wards of the state while successfully defending themselves against several abuse-and-neglect petitions, Carli said. The Castillos were already looking after two other foster children, both toddlers, and were raising three children of their own, ages 12, 13, and 17, when the infant joined their home.

Carli said the Castillos complied with every DSS regulation for foster families, and that nothing in their record gave any indication that Yolanda Castillo was capable of leaving three very young children alone in her unlocked house -- as she apparently did last Thursday, when the baby was allegedly abducted.

Yolanda Castillo worked, said Carli, but she had adequate day care for her children. Jose Castillo's schedule was flexible, and he would often drive the children around during the day, said neighbors.

On Sundays, neighbors said, a minivan dropped off parishioners at the Eastern Avenue home, although the Most High Pentecostal Church was officially housed in a nearby storefront. Sometimes, neighbors said, the minivans had New York license plates.

Last night, Jose Castillo arrived at the little storefront church in a white van to preside over one of his four weekly services. He declined comment, offering only a shrug on his way into the chapel.

Santos's whereabouts yesterday were unknown.

Officials, meanwhile, said it was possible Santos knew who was taking care of her son, and where they lived. Carli, of DSS, said Santos did have two supervised visits with the infant in September, one at the DSS Worcester office, and one at the rehab center.

Yolanda Castillo was not present at either visit.

"We can't be 100 percent sure she didn't know who the foster parents were," said Carli. "It wouldn't be unusual for the families to know each other, especially since they lived in the same community."

Kahanic said he was not given a chance to take the baby after DSS removed him from Santos. DSS has said it tried to find him.

Carli said Kahanic, who is disabled and receiving benefits, did not know where the baby had been placed. And police have not focused their investigation on him.

Kahanic has said he does not know where Santos is. However, he said he did see her on Tuesday night, and that he took her to her appointment at a drug rehabilitation clinic.

He remained convinced yesterday that his former girlfriend was not responsible for the baby's disappearance. But he had choice words for the state agency that stepped in to take the baby from his negligent mother.

"DSS didn't even know I wanted the baby. . . . That's why I hold them at fault," he said. "Of course, I would have taken the baby.

November 13, 1998

4 PARENTS ALL REFUSE TO TALK \ BABY STILL MISSING

TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER - The birth parents and foster parents of missing 5-month-old Marlon Devine Santos have hired their own lawyers and are declining to be interviewed by police, Detective Capt. Paul F. Campbell said yesterday.

"I'd love to sit down and talk to the foster parents and to speak to the natural parents," he said.

Campbell said the case continues to be focused on finding the baby, who apparently has been missing since Nov. 5. No crime has been alleged, he said, and no charges have been brought against anyone.

"I don't see any significant changes on our outlook on this thing," Campbell said.

Detective Lt. John J. McKiernan Jr. said yesterday that some statements naming one or another of the foster or natural parents as "suspects" needed "clarification."

"I would agree that we are looking at some aspects of what Dina Santos had to say to us very carefully," McKiernan said. "... But to categorize her as a suspect, that would be not my choice of words. ... If the question is are we focused on any individual as a suspect, the answer is no."

The foster parents, Jose and Yolanda Castillo, of 175 Eastern Ave., told police Saturday night that the infant had been missing since the afternoon of Nov. 5.

Yolanda Castillo said she had left the boy and two other foster children, ages 2 and 3, alone for about 45 minutes while she drove to East Middle School to pick up two of her own children who were students there.

She told police that the baby was gone when she returned.

Jose Castillo was on a trip out of state at the time and did not return until Saturday, after Yolanda Castillo had driven to New York to pick him up.

The Castillos, both pastors at Most High Pentecostal Church, 623 Lincoln St., have cared for 51 foster children during the 1990s.

The baby is the biological child of William H. Kahanic, of Spencer, and Dina Santos, of Worcester.

According to officials of the state Department of Social Services, the baby was taken from the custody of his mother and placed in the Castillo home in August.

Records in the city's Department of Public Health and Code Enforcement show that three complaints were filed involving Yolanda Castillo keeping chickens and a rooster in her home at 175 Eastern Ave.

A report from May 1997 states that Mrs. Castillo was advised to get rid of the chickens. Last April, an order was issued to remove a rooster from her house. In June, another complaint was received from a neighbor stating that a rooster and chickens were being kept in the house.

Yolanda Castillo is listed on tax records as the owner of the house on Eastern Avenue.

November 12, 1998

POLICE BELIEVE BABY MAY BE ALIVE \ BIOLOGICAL MOTHER `A SUSPECT'

George B. Griffin; TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER - The 5-month-old foster baby missing since last Thursday might still be alive, according to Worcester police detectives. Police are also considering the mother of the baby as a suspect in the disappearance.

"We have reasons to believe that the child is still alive," said Detective Lt. Loman A. Rutherford last night.

"We have been hoping that it was something other than a homicide, and new leads are pointing in the direction that it is" something other than a homicide.

Rutherford would not elaborate, other than to say that detectives are taking statements from several people.

Dina Santos, 25, living with her mother in Douglas, is considered to be a "suspect," according to Rutherford, because she is refusing to cooperate with police and has retained a lawyer.

Earlier in the day, Detective Capt. Paul F. Campbell said that Jose Castillo, 52, of 175 Eastern Ave., the foster father, had been convicted on marijuana distribution charges and sentenced to jail in Florida before he moved to Massachusetts. Details of that case were not available yesterday.

Castillo, a pastor at the Most High Pentecostal Church, 623 Lincoln St., has no criminal record in Massachusetts, Campbell said.

Lorraine Carli, spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, said that a criminal-records check was done on everyone living in the foster home in April.

"I do not believe we came up with anything," she said. She noted that if a conviction is more than 10 years old, DSS has the discretion, depending on the charges, to decide whether it precludes someone from being a foster parent.

"In that case (marijuana distribution), I'm not sure whether we would have such a discretion," she said.

The DSS, which says it has placed 51 foster children with the Castillos in the 1990s, has been cooperating with Worcester police in the investigation.

The baby, Marlon Devine Santos, was placed in the Castillos' care by DSS in August, and was one of many children for whom the couple had provided foster care in recent years. Castillo and his wife, Yolanda Castillo, 39, told police late Saturday night that the child had been missing since Thursday afternoon.

Yolanda Castillo said she had left the infant and two other foster children, ages 2 and 3, alone in the house for 45 minutes while she went to East Middle School to pick up her two youngest biological children, ages 12 and 11. The Castillos also have a 17-year-old daughter.

Mrs. Castillo said the infant was missing when she returned from the school.

Jose Castillo told police he was out of town from Nov. 1 to Saturday and was not home when it was discovered that the child was gone.

Detectives have learned that the day the baby disappeared was not the first time Mrs. Castillo had left the house without taking the young foster children with her. She told police that on Nov. 1 she left the foster children with her oldest daughter while she drove her husband to the Bronx in New York.

On Saturday, two days after the infant disappeared, she left the two remaining foster children in the care of her oldest daughter while she drove again to the Bronx to pick up her husband.

The Castillos told police they arrived in Worcester about 6 p.m. Saturday, but did not report the infant's disappearance until 11:30 that night because they could not find a baby sitter.

A Telegram & Gazette reporter found the church shut, vacant and locked yesterday. No one answered the door at the Castillo home. Telephone calls and messages left on answering machines at the church and the home were not returned by the Castillos.

Police have been investigating around the clock since learning of the disappearance. Using search warrants, investigators have searched the Castillos' home and two vehicles they used.

The infant is the child of Dina Santos, 25, of 50 Franklin St., and William H. Kahanic, 27, of 53 Chestnut St., Spencer.

Initial police reports indicated that the child had been put into DSS custody voluntarily. But Carli said yesterday that DSS had taken the child from Santos because the boy was not being cared for properly.

That confirms statements by Santos on Tuesday that she did not voluntarily give up custody of the boy.

Both Kahanic and Santos have retained legal counsel, as have the Castillos.

No arrests have been made.

Detective Lt. John J. McKiernan Jr. said police are seeking to interview the foster parents and the biological parents in the presence of their attorneys.