Grieving Mom Of Drowned Kids Speaks Out

Md. Woman Laments Court Failures; Husband Charged With Drowning Their 3 Children In Hotel Room

(CBS/AP)  The mother of three young children who were allegedly drowned by their father in a Baltimore hotel room said her husband had become increasingly troubled in recent weeks.

Amy Castillo said a judge stopped alimony payments he had been receiving from her, and he was falling behind on financial obligations.

"All around he was in trouble," she said. "I think he was getting more and more angry."

Asked about court rulings in which a judge agreed to allow Mark Castillo visitation despite documented mental health problems and even after she told the judge he had made reference to killing the kids, Amy Castillo said that "there were some people who would not listen to me."

She said she did not want to talk about the legal issues too much, but said the legal system needs a better understanding of mental-health issues. Her estranged husband was becoming angrier in the weeks preceding the children's deaths.

Still, Amy Castillo said she did not notice anything out of the ordinary on Saturday when she turned her children over to Mark Castillo for a regularly scheduled visitation. It turned out to be the last time she would see her children - Anthony, 6; Austin, 4; and Athena, 2.

"That particular Saturday I didn't notice any unusual behavior but it was a very brief interaction," Amy Castillo told reporters at a briefing at McLean Bible Church, where she and her children regularly attended worship services.

Mark Castillo is charged with the murder of his three children. Police say he drowned his children one by one in the bathtub of a Baltimore hotel room on Saturday.

The Washington Post reported that Castillo told police he swallowed 100 Motrin tablets and stabbed himself in the neck with a steak knife. He awoke 19 hours later and realized that his suicide attempt was a failure, according to court documents.

The Castillos fought a bitter and lengthy battle in the Montgomery County courts over their divorce and custody over the three children. They were granted a limited divorce in February, and Mark Castillo retained visitation rights to the children.

Amy Castillo had asked judges to suspend those rights on at least two occasions, citing her husband's mental instability and his alleged threats. In December 2006, she wrote in a petition for a protective order that her husband told her "the worst thing he could do to me is to kill the children, not me, so I could live without them."

But on both occasions, Montgomery Circuit Court judges denied her requests, saying there wasn't enough evidence that Mark Castillo was a threat to the children. At one point, Amy Castillo was fined by the court for keeping her husband from seeing the children.

One of the judges, Joseph Dugan, declined to comment Thursday but his office referred calls to a Rockville divorce attorney who had reviewed the case at the request of the Maryland judicial branch. Judges generally cannot comment publicly on cases.

Patrick Dragga said there are several instances where the court took relatively unusual steps, such as appointing an attorney to represent the interests of the children and parent coordinator to help with communication between the Castillos.

And when Dugan denied Amy Castillo's request for a protective order granting her sole custody in January 2007, he also required that Mark Castillo attend counseling if he wanted to continue seeing his children. That order ended when the Castillos reached a custody agreement several weeks later, Dragga said.

Judges face the high bar of clear and convincing evidence of abuse or harm before they can issue a protective order, he said.

"I think these guys tried to get the expertise that would help them with this," he said of the judges. "This one didn't work, obviously."

Amy Castillo was soft-spoken and composed throughout her briefing. She said she is devastated but "it gives me peace that no one can harm them again and that they are with Jesus in heaven."

She talked about her children - Anthony was sweet and good-natured; Austin was a bit of a trouble maker and Athena was just learning to talk.

"I couldn't wait to have a girl. ... I feel like I barely got to know her," she said.

[michellem99-2009]

This is not sunday school..US of A is not/has been/will be A Christian nation..sep of church and state..the fathers set it up that way. The constution.ye can see to read it..newster dear careful on the term blind. They have fully sighted eyes but their mind is blind. It is the seeing that cause the messes.

[swwils]

Everyday I watch the news it shows that this world has more evil than good upon it.God is coming soon,This is just my opinion.The world is tearing apart,wars,storms,and diseases that used to be extinct are returning.We have that MRSA that is resistant to our strongest antibiotics.Also look at all these babies having babies,most try to throw them away or flush them down the toilet.If you are a believer in God,and Christ,then know our time grows short.

[swwils]

This nation has made me sick the way society is always blaming the innocent and the guilty get treated with the best respect.This man that drowned those little children should be tortured then executed with extreme prejudice.When we learn that Murder''s and Rapist of any human is not tolerated in our world we might(might)have a decent place for our children''s children to live.

[swwils]

This nation has made me sick the way society is always blaming the innocent and the guilty get treated with the best respect.This man that drowned those little children should be tortured then executed with extreme prejudice.When we learn that Murder''s and Rapist of any human is not tolerated in our world we might(might)have a decent place for our children''s children to live.

[swwils]

When this sick dude is convicted they should tie some logging chains around him and toss his butt off the Golden gate bridge.The thing is though some corrupt no morales lawyer will plead to the court that he is insane and should be hospitalized.That is why people do stuff so horrific and laugh about it.We have turned into a cry baby country.We used to show no mercy to killers,and rapist.Today 4000 approximately sit on Death Row and we(the tax payers) pay 6,400,000,000,every 10 yrs to keep them alive,just to execute them.That is an estimate of course but my research proves very close.That money could do so much good,that is why people need to write their Congressmen and Senator''s,and put a stop to this.

[swwils]

When this sick dude is convicted they should tie some logging chains around him and toss his butt off the Golden gate bridge.The thing is though some corrupt no morales lawyer will plead to the court that he is insane and should be hospitalized.That is why people do stuff so horrific and laugh about it.We have turned into a cry baby country.We used to show no mercy to killers,and rapist.Today 4000 approximately sit on Death Row and we(the tax payers) pay 6,400,000,000,every 10 yrs to keep them alive,just to execute them.That is an estimate of course but my research proves very close.That money could do so much good,that is why people need to write their Congressmen and Senator''s,and put a stop to this.

[swwils]

When this sick dude is convicted they should tie some logging chains around him and toss his butt off the Golden gate bridge.The thing is though some corrupt no morales lawyer will plead to the court that he is insane and should be hospitalized.That is why people do stuff so horrific and laugh about it.We have turned into a cry baby country.We used to show no mercy to killers,and rapist.Today 4000 approximately sit on Death Row and we(the tax payers) pay 6,400,000,000,every 10 yrs to keep them alive,just to execute them.That is an estimate of course but my research proves very close.That money could do so much good,that is why people need to write their Congressmen and Senator''s,and put a stop to this.

[swwils]

When this sick dude is convicted they should tie some logging chains around him and toss his butt off the Golden gate bridge.The thing is though some corrupt no morales lawyer will plead to the court that he is insane and should be hospitalized.That is why people do stuff so horrific and laugh about it.We have turned into a cry baby country.We used to show no mercy to killers,and rapist.Today 4000 approximately sit on Death Row and we(the tax payers) pay 6,400,000,000,every 10 yrs to keep them alive,just to execute them.That is an estimate of course but my research proves very close.That money could do so much good,that is why people need to write their Congressmen and Senator''s,and put a stop to this.

[swwils]

When this sick dude is convicted they should tie some logging chains around him and toss his butt off the Golden gate bridge.The thing is though some corrupt no morales lawyer will plead to the court that he is insane and should be hospitalized.That is why people do stuff so horrific and laugh about it.We have turned into a cry baby country.We used to show no mercy to killers,and rapist.Today 4000 approximately sit on Death Row and we(the tax payers) pay 6,400,000,000,every 10 yrs to keep them alive,just to execute them.That is an estimate of course but my research proves very close.That money could do so much good,that is why people need to write their Congressmen and Senator''s,and put a stop to this.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by b-easy63 at 12:51 AM

I completely agree with your opinion about the judge. In today''s world, any threat to kill needs to be taken seriously. If an eight year old says he is going to kill his teacher, nobody laughs about it and says how cute. They immediately respond. This judge was wrong to just let it go at that.