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Sun coverage: 3 children drowned at hotel

Coverage of the deaths of three young children who were drowned in a bathtub at Baltimore's Marriott Hotel on March 29, 2008. The children's father, Mark Castillo, admitted to the killings and has been charged.

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Hotel slayings

September 4, 2008

Castillo ordered held for mental evaluation

A Baltimore Circuit judge yesterday ordered a Montgomery County man accused of drowning three children in his Inner Harbor hotel room to undergo a 30-day evaluation at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup. Mark Castillo, 42, has asked to represent himself at trial, and forensic psychiatrists at Perkins will assess whether he is legally fit to do so. The ruling came after court medical evaluators determined they could not render a decision on Castillo's competency to represent himself. Castillo is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Anthony, 6; Austin, 4; and Athena, 2, whom he confessed to drowning one by one at the Marriott Inner Harbor hotel in late March. Police said Castillo then tried to kill himself. Police believe Castillo killed the children in an act of revenge against his estranged wife. Circuit Judge Gale E. Rasin said at yesterday's hearing that she must carefully follow the law to minimize the chance of a successful post-conviction appeal, if he is convicted.

April 6, 2008

Service honors young victims

On a stage before nearly a thousand mourners, the violinists played notes of elegant sorrow.

April 2, 2008

Father held without bail in 3 killings

The Montgomery County man charged with drowning his three children in a Baltimore hotel bathtub during a bitter custody battle with his estranged wife was ordered held without bail yesterday as experts on domestic violence cases struggled to determine whether the killings could have been prevented.

April 2, 2008