FORT MYERS, Fla. - Tearing up in court, murder suspect Mark Sievers pleaded with a judge to change the way his daughters are cared for.
He wanted them to live with his mother, while he awaits trial for murdering the girls' mother, Dr. Theresa Sievers.
But a judge today denied the request, saying the girls need to stay with their maternal grandmother.recorded jail conversations between Mark Seivers and his mother paint a less then flattering picture of how he tried to manipulate his mother into demanding custody of his children.
That, along with testimony from Department of Children and Family services helped the judge reach his decision.
Her grandchildren call her "Mimi", Mary Ann Gross, the mother of murder vicitm Dr. Theresa Seivers.
Her son-in-law Mark Seivers is accused of killing her daughter.
The judge ruling, "Mimi" was better suited and more reliable for taking care of the two Seivers daughters.
In fact, when originally asked to provide long term help, Mark's mother, Bonnie Seivers, reportedly told dcf she wasn't sure she could handle it phyisically and financially.
But telephone recordings show mark pressured his mother to ask for custody and as one attorney said, tried to poison the girls relationship with his wife's mother, accusing her as the cause of his troubles.
After the judge ruled in favor of the maternal grandmother, he said all visits with the father would be supervised by someone other than either grandmother.
