When Anthony Castillo, 6, didn?t return to kindergarten Monday at Forcey Christian School, some of his classmates wondered why his seat sat empty.
“He had a reputation as tender-hearted and a peacemaker,” said Ken Roussey, principal of the nondenominational religious school in Silver Spring. “Even at a very young age, he was a compassionate young man, so when another student was hurting he tried to comfort them.”
Roussey expressed disbelief that Anthony?s father, Mark Anthony Castillo, 41, was charged this week with drowning three of his children in a downtown Baltimore hotel bathtub: Anthony; his brother, Austin, who attended preschool at Forcey and was already reading at 4; and their baby sister, Athena, 2.
The principal recalled how Anthony lit up a room.
“He?s one of these students who tells the teacher how much he loved her,” he said. “He was liked by the girls because he was gentle and also extremely bright.”
Mark Castillo used to volunteer at the school, fixing computers and teaching children gymnastics.
“I just saw him two weeks ago, and we said ?Hi,? ” Roussey said.
“He?s done good things here at our school. He seemed to love his children.”
Now, Roussey doesn?t know what to think.
For nearly two years, Amy Castillo had battled with her husband, who suffered from mental illnesses and attempted suicide, over custody of their children, court records show.
Mark Castillo had threatened to kill their children to punish her, but a threat alone isn?t enough, especially in Maryland, where the law requires a higher standard of evidence for protective orders, lawyers said.
“Sometimes a threat?s enough, if there are past incidences of abuse,” said Stuart Skok, a family law attorney in Gaithersburg.
“If you are going to be charged with abuse, the standard of proof has to be very high.”
But unlike physical abuse, Amy Castillo?s claim that her husband had threatened the lives of their children left no clear evidence behind.
“It can?t just be a woman said her husband is a cuckoo,” said Prince George?s Circuit Judge Vincent Femia. “But in this horrible incident, this wife?s intuition turned out to be right.”
Staff Writer Freeman Klopott contributed to this article.
