4 Year-Old Missing Boy, Marc Anthony Bookal, Body Found

4-Year-Old Marc Anthony Bookal has been missing since December 2009. Police have found the body of 4 year-old boy who vanished while in the care of Christina Bookal's live-in boyfriend Cory Byrd. The body was found in a duffel bag in a wooded area not far from the home. Cory Byrd was initially arrested for child endangerment because 4 year-old Marc Anthony was in his care when he went missing.

Byrd had told police that the boy just disappeared, and that he found the door to the apartment wide open. Why was he left alone with a child? The child had stayed home from Pre-K that day because he was sick, according to reports. Shockingly, Christina Bookal says that there was no reason for her to worry about her four year old son being left alone with Byrd; yet, he is the same guy who had been arrested years earlier for "child endangerment" of another child.

Reports have said that she [Christana] is a good mother, has been at the same job for years, and the home is clean. Well, it is questionable how clean the home was because there is a video of one of Nancy Grace's shows on YouTube showing the room that Byrd was in when Marc Bookal vanished, and it is a mess. Whether or not she is a good mother is also questionable because leaving a 4 year-old with a man that was caring for a 1 year-old baby who ended up in the hospital with severe injuries is reckless.

In that case, Cory Byrd claimed that the baby had choked on a piece of hard candy (Jolly Rancher) and he had tried to do the Heimlich maneuver on the then 1 year-old, who is now 12-years-old, and lives with the couple. Well, WABC reported that in 1998 "Byrd was arrested for abusing his own son who was hospitalized with broken ribs, a broken wrist, a fractured skull, and a perforated liver." Christina is aware of this, but insisit on standing by her man.

Christina Bookal is sticking with her story, she basically is insisting that it was perfectly safe for her to leave another small child in his [Corey Byrd] care. And, 4-year-old Marc Anthony is now dead!

Do you think Christina Bookal knew nothing of Byrd's history of violence or criminal background? She certainly knew about the injuries to a baby previously left in his care. How could she feel comfortable about leaving a child with Byrd?

Cory Byrd nearly beat a man to death. In a December 16^th report by Cindy Adams on Examiner.com states in part, "...the victim [of that attack] said that Byrd hit him with the final blow that looked like a punch, but Byrd had a knife in his fist. The brutal blow "opened a gash that split the young man's face from his right eye to his left ear," according to Records Online. It took about 250 stitches to close the wound that measured 7 inches. The victim said, "After I got cut, they left me there to die."

Any mother who leaves their child with someone with a history like Byrd's, which includes child endangerment, is irresponsible, and endangering her child. This may sound cruel to say of a grieving mom, but little Marc Anthony deserved better. Even if Byrd is not responsible for the death of the child that innocent child was in his care when he vanished, and Christina Bookal is the one who left 4-year-old Marc Anthony with Corey Byrd. Do you think she should have left a child with Byrd after what happened to the other child? Is she partly responsible?