David Rothenberg was six years old and living with his mother, Marie Rothenberg, in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York,[1] when his father, Charles Rothenberg, took him to California. The parents were divorced[2] and in conflict over custody of David; after the two argued on the telephone, on the evening of March 3, 1983, at a motel in Buena Park, Charles gave his son a sleeping pill and after he fell asleep, poured kerosene on the bed and set fire to it. He left the room and watched from a telephone booth across the street while other guests rescued David.[3][4][5][6]