Adam Rotell, 8, has been with foster parents since the death of his brother, Mathew. Families squared off in a hearing Tuesday.
By JAMES THORNER
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 1999
LAND O' LAKES -- A Hillsborough County judge will announce this morning who gets custody of Adam Rotell, the Land O'Lakes boy whose brother Mathew was found dead in the family minivan two weeks ago.
Family Court Judge Vivian Maye, after hearing from eight witnesses over four hours Tuesday afternoon, decided to sleep on a decision before making an announcement at 9:30 a.m. today.
Adam's fate has been left in limbo since his brother was killed April 12. Authorities have ruled it a homicide, but no one has been charged.
His mother, Kristina Gaime, is still at University Community Hospital, where she has been under 24-hour supervision since Mathew's death. His father, Stephen Rotell, has been denied visitation to his son since October as the case winds through the court system.
At the hearing, Stephen Rotell, wearing on his suit lapel a plastic Tweety Bird, Mathew's favorite cartoon character, sat stoically across from Gaime's parents, Gary and Kathleen McDuffie.
The witnesses for placing Adam with Rotell were many, including the state Department of Children and Families.
DCF officials had asked the judge to place the boy with his paternal grandparents, Anthony and Juline Rotell, but announced Tuesday they wouldn't oppose letting the boy live with his father.
"Adam has a very loving relationship with his grandparents," said Lorraine Mitchell, a Pasco County DCF worker who has overseen Adam's current stay with a foster family. "He easily receives them. ... He runs to them, jumps on their laps, kisses his grandmother."
Mitchell's agency has also asked the judge to suspend unsupervised visitation with the McDuffies, citing Pasco County Sheriff's Office suspicions that the couple has obstructed the investigation into Mathew's killing.
Mitchell said Gary McDuffie squabbled with her over whether Adam could ride with the family to his dead brother's funeral last week.
"Mr McDuffie got very angry. Mr. McDuffie clenched his fist. Mr. McDuffie got in my face," she told the court.
She also said McDuffie was responsible for passing a letter from Gaime to Adam in violation of a state order to keep mother and son apart. McDuffie denied the charge, saying he couldn't remember giving Adam the letter.
Gaime's attorney, Catherine Catlin, has argued that Adam should stay in state custody until the conclusion of the death investigation.
Tuesday, she raised once again sexual abuse allegations against Rotell, allegations previously deemed unfounded. Catlin also questioned whether Rotell's parents were healthy enough to care for an energetic and troubled 8-year-old boy such as Adam.
"Adam is vicious, aggressive and mean, and it's possible he could lash out at others," Catlin said.
Stephen Rotell's attorney, Jim Kramer, called six witnesses, most of them doctors, to attest to his client's mental health.
Kramer didn't get far with the court in trying to paint Gaime as suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Munchausen is a rare mental disorder that leads parents to deliberately hurt or sicken their children to gain sympathy or attention.
Maye interrupted Kramer from questioning Dr. Deborah Day, a Munchausen expert he called Tuesday as a witness.
"This is not a trial on a homicide, this is a determination where it's best for Adam to remain," Maye said.
Kramer had no doubts where he though Adam should remain. "The child needs to be returned to his father," he said.
Bruce Haldeman, a criminal investigator with the state attorney's office, sat in on Tuesday's hearing.
The McDuffies have suggested their daughter was attacked by an intruder in her Land O'Lakes home before Mathew was killed. Sheriff's deputies dispute that theory.
A Pasco grand jury convenes May 7 to hear evidence in the killing of Mathew.
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