Two men argued over killing infant

Two men who have confessed in the beating death of a teenager argued after the killing about what to do with her 5-week-old girl, authorities said yesterday.

Douglas Mandichak and Christopher Mikels considered throwing the baby into the icy waters of Pennsauken Creek, but in the end abandoned her in the front yard of a Cherry Hill home, acting Camden County Prosecutor Joshua Ottenberg said.

After finding the baby's stroller in the water, police yesterday continued to comb the banks of the creek in Cinnaminson for the body of her mother, 17-year-old Felicia Mikels of Pennsauken, which the men said they dumped into the water.

Christopher Mikels, 26, who is Felicia Mikels' uncle, told police he believed he was the child's father. He persuaded Mandichak to let the baby live, Ottenberg said. DNA from both men was being tested to determine whether either is the baby's father, he said.

"There seems to have been a serious breakdown in the rules of humanity," Ottenberg said.

James Mikels, Felicia's father and Christopher's brother, struggled to make sense of his daughter's killing yesterday. James Mikels said Felicia would often help the two men clean houses and clear out basements.

"I always thought Doug [Mandichak] had a crush on her," James Mikels said, standing in front of the Pennsauken house where he lived with daughter Felicia, his brother, grandmother and four other children.

He refused to believe his brother could be the baby's father, but said he desperately wanted to hear his side of the story.

"I keep asking the police to let me see my brother, but they won't let me," James Mikels said. "He saved that baby. I give him credit for that.

"I want to ask him, 'Did you have anything to do with it?' I want to ask him, 'Why is she dead?'

"I want to ask him why didn't he stop it or at least call police?"

It was unclear yesterday if the two men had hired attorneys.

In separate statements made to investigators, Christopher Mikels and Mandichak confessed to planning an attack on the teenager for more than a week, Ottenberg said. The prosecutor said Felicia Mikels was killed in a dispute over money, although it wasn't clear yesterday who was owed or how much.

The men lured Felicia Mikels to a bowling alley two blocks from her Pennsauken home Friday night with a series of text messages to her cell phone. She went to the bowling alley on Maple Avenue with her baby, Miciana Ramos, in tow.

The two men drove the mother and child to a secluded parking lot at a nearby industrial complex, where Mandichak pulled out a piece of wood and beat Felicia Mikels to death, Ottenberg said. The men wrapped her body in a tarp and dumped it into the creek, he said.

Shortly after, Christopher Mikels took Felicia's cell phone and typed a message reading "I am running away." Christopher Mikels sent the message to himself about 1 a.m. to try to cover up the killing, Ottenberg said. Then he pleaded with Mandichak to spare the child.

About the same time, Felicia Mikels' family called police to report the mother and child missing.

The bundled-up baby was discovered at 7 a.m. Saturday, on the front lawn of a Cherry Hill home, by a man driving to work.

Ottenberg said Mikels and Mandichak had been cooperating with investigators. Mandichak showed police yesterday where he said they dumped Felicia Mikels' body into the creek, near North Fork Landing Road.

Mandichak, 25, of Maple Shade, whose criminal record includes an arson conviction, has been charged with murder. Christopher Mikels has been charged as an accomplice to murder. Both were being held last night at the Camden County jail on $750,000 bail.

Ice and strong currents forced state police divers yesterday to call off a hand search of the murky bottom of the creek, said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a state police spokesman.

"It's been extremely dangerous work," Ottenberg said. "The tides are strong, and the visibility underwater is nonexistent."

Police dogs sniffed along the creek's edges as troopers with high-tech sonar devices scanned the icy waters for the woman's remains.

Investigators also were searching the industrial park for the piece of wood allegedly used to kill Mikels.

The two men are scheduled for their first court appearance this morning. James Mikels hopes to get some answers then.