BALTIMORE, Md. — A man who told police he drowned his three young children "one at a time" in a Baltimore hotel bathtub over the weekend has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse, officials said Monday.
Mark Anthony Castillo, 41, of Rockville, Md., was charged with 15 counts, including three counts of murder and six counts of child abuse, around 1 p.m. Monday after being released from the hospital where he was treated for self-inflicted neck wounds.
Police said Castillo called the front desk at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards at about 1:15 p.m. Sunday and said he had just killed his two sons and daughter. They identified the children as Anthony, 6, Austin, 4, and Athena, 2.
"We believe that the children were drowned one at a time in the tub," Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said at a press conference Monday morning.
Police did not cite a motive, but the tragedy may have stemmed from a custody dispute with Castillo's wife
She wrote in court documents that her husband had threatened to make her suffer by killing the children. She sought a protective order Dec. 25, 2006 and asked that the court order Castillo to receive counseling.
"He has never actually hurt [the children], but did tell me that the worst thing he could do to me would be to kill the children and not me so I could live without them," she wrote in the petition.
She also wrote that when her husband took the children for visits, he would not tell her where they were staying.
A temporary protective order was approved three days after the petition was filed, but Circuit Judge Joseph Dugan rejected a permanent order Jan. 10, 2007. In explaining his decision, Dugan wrote there was "no clear or convincing evidence that the alleged acts of abuse occurred."
Police planned to search Castillo's Toyota van, his Montgomery County residence and a laptop computer recovered at the scene.
Castillo has cooperated with authorities in their investigation, Bealefeld said.
Police believe Castillo took his children to the city's Inner Harbor on Saturday afternoon and checked into the hotel that evening.
A custody agreement between the couple required Castillo to return the three children to their mother around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
"When this did not occur, his wife notified police authorities in Montgomery County," Bealefeld said.
Baltimore police were notified by hotel staff of the deaths shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, but officials believe the children were killed in the 10th-floor room at some point on Saturday night.
In Silver Spring, neighbor Maria Habesch, 79, said she went to a party a few years ago at the couple's home. She described Mark Castillo as "very, very polite," but said she hasn't seen him in two years.
Habesch said she saw the children playing Friday in the front yard of their home.
"The situation, it paralyzes you," she said. "It's not easy, to know these little kids were jumping [around] and then they are gone."
Monroe said the children's bodies will be autopsied, but detectives made a preliminary conclusion that they were drowned based on the father's statements and evidence in the room.
The crime has shocked the Baltimore community.
"It's really inexplicable why he chose Baltimore," Bealefeld said.
Police did not speak directly to Castillo's mental state, but Baltimore's mayor called for a better way to deal with mental health issues.
"We will be asking ourselves 'Why, why could someone do this to three young, innocent children?'" Mayor Sheila Dixon said.
Bealefeld called the cases like this one "difficult."
"They have an incredible emotional impact on everyone involved," he said. "Fortunately, they are rare in our society. Our sympathy goes out to the family of these young children."
The Associated Press
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