WASHINGTON — A Stafford County man is charged with the murder of his 1-year-old foster son, who police say died of burns he suffered from bath water.
Ka’Ron Mason was badly burned in early January, and died a few weeks later, shortly after he turned one. The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office says Ka’Ron was burned while his foster father gave him a bath.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that Ka’Ron’s foster father, 33-year-old David Marcussen, had been indicted on a charge of felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children and child neglect for the boy’s death.
Marcussen turned himself in on April 17, and he was being held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail.
Ka’Ron had been in the custody of Fredericksburg’s Department of Social Services since shortly after he was born and was living with a foster family in Stafford County.
The boy had been with the foster family since July 2014, according to the sheriff’s office.
Fredericksburg’s Department of Social Services says in a statement that “the foster parents passed the stringent selection and training criteria required by our agency.”
The department says social workers had visited the foster home on Dec. 17, about three weeks before Mason was burned.
A Virginia child fatality review team will examine the case after the criminal case ends.
