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Sheriff: Stafford Co. foster dad charged with murder of 1-year-old boy

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.

David Marcussen was being held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail. (Courtesy Stafford County Sheriff's Office)
David Marcussen was being held without bond at the Rappahannock Regional Jail. (Courtesy Stafford County Sheriff’s Office)

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.

Amid controversy over memorials, group vows more Confederate battle flags along Va. highways

WASHINGTON — A Virginia group that puts up oversized Confederate battle flags on private property along highways across the state said it plans to install even more of them in response to an effort in Stafford County to get the flags that opponents call racist taken down. “The Va. Flaggers have no plans to remove any of our 26 Roadside Memorial Battle Flags across the Commonwealth, including the Fredericksburg Memorial Battle Flag on I-95 in Stafford County,” the Virginia Flaggers' spokesman Barry Isenhour said in a email statement provided to WTOP. “In fact, in light of the recent attempts by the Governor and a few local politicians to encourage the destruction of Confederate Memorials, we intend to fast track the installation of several new projects in the next few months.”
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