I can't believe the baby's mother. She's just as nutty as her husband. I hope she is never allowed to be in the same room as her baby ever again.

Baby burned in microwave leaves hospital

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GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- A baby girl was released from a hospital 11 days after police say she was burned in a motel microwave oven.

The infant's mother blamed the devil for what happened, saying Satan compelled her husband to put the baby in the microwave. The devil "saw my husband as a threat" because of his efforts to become a preacher, Eva Marie Mauldin, 20, told Houston television station KHOU.

"He would never do anything to hurt her," she said. "Satan was working through his weaknesses."

Mauldin said that her husband had a mental disability and that her efforts to get him help have failed.

Doctors at the Shriners Burn Hospital performed at least two skin grafts on 2-month-old Ana Marie Mauldin, who suffered burns on her face and hand May 10. She was released Monday and placed in foster care, and a custody hearing was scheduled later this week.

The baby's father, Joshua Mauldin, 19, was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of felony injury to a child and was jailed on $250,000 bond. If found guilty, he could face 99 years in prison.

Mauldin, of Warren, Arkansas, went to Galveston with his family this month to be a preacher, authorities said. When he first called 911, he said the baby had been burned when he tripped while carrying a pot of hot Water in their motel room, police said.

But during a bail reduction hearing, a police detective testified that Mauldin also put the baby in a refrigerator and a hotel room safe.

Left alone in the room, he "became agitated," Galveston Police Detective Holly Johnson said. Then, he struck the baby in the groin on a hotel bed before putting her in the appliances and safe, she said.

He later told police he put his daughter in the microwave because he was under stress. Police said the infant was in the oven for 10 to 20 seconds while her mother and grandmother were away. Investigators found human tissue in the microwave that matched the burns on the left side of the girl's face and her left hand.

Baby Ana Marie did not suffer any internal injuries, said Gwen Carter, spokeswoman for Child Protective Services. She said the child is now "doing really well, making eye contact and was responsive to hospital staff when they held her."

I hope not. Nuttiness like that runs in the family. The rest of them are probably just as wacked out as the parents.

There was a case in Toronto a year or so ago where a grandparent asked for and received custody of 4 of her grandchildren who had been seized by Children's Aid. The entire extended family lived on welfare and such monies as were contributed by those who were working. There was quite a large number of them living in one house. Well, for some reason two of the four children were isolated to one room and slowly over a period of years both maltreated and slowly starved to death. The grandmother had them drinking water out of the toilet and eating food out of the dog's bowl when she did let them outside of their room, a room which was underheated in winter, by the way.

After one of the two children died the family called an ambulance. The kid, who was 5 years old, weighed less than an year old. His body was covered in faeces, urine, and mould. The other child, still alive, was in the same condition.

The trial was interesting. The grandmother was found to be of subnormal intelligence with behaviour issues and it was discovered that one of her own babies had died under suspect circumstances when she herself was 17. These are folks who shouldn't be breeding but they do. Children's Aid had goofed when assigning these kids to their grandmother. They hadn't troubled to do a background check. All this info on granny was already in their files.

I have told you this story because my hunch is that this family likely is as stupid and as whacked out as the parents of this baby are.

i doubt that the family will get the kid, but i am sure they will make a play for it. its sad when children are taken out of abusive situations, and put right back into new ones. i hope the judge in her adoption case is smart and gives the kid to a family that will treat this little girl right.

There is a tendency to want to place kids with blood members, I believe. This can work out just fine when it applies to cases where the mother is a drug addict and living on the streets and it is the grandparents who apply to raise their grandchildren.

I think that is a smart thing to do, honestly. but in certain cases it is not good. i hope that because of the severity of the childs abuse, the family is not given guardianship to the baby. it allows the parents close access in the future, which should not be allowed.

Wonder if they make a microwave big enought to fit wacked out Daddy into???? Eye for an eye.....no the parents, nor the parents who raised them...none of them should ever be near this child again. If the grandparents were involved prior, surely they could tell the father was not behaving normally. Same with the Mom and her Mom who went out and left him alone with the infant. They had their chance, they blew it, now let someone who will love her properly raise her. The courts may step in and lock him away, whether in a psych ward or prison---but Mom will likely be let go, and will probably already have another child before it ever goes to court!

Kat

I'm sorry I read this thread again... it makes me sick to think of children being mistreated. I know it exists... but it's so horrible.

Evilah

I'm sorry I read this thread again... it makes me sick to think of children being mistreated. I know it exists... but it's so horrible.

The whole story makes me want to vomit. Both parents are clearly whacked out and should never be allowed to see that child again. Hopefully the baby will go to a good, loving family who won't share any of this with her. As to the issue of whether this child should have been aborted, the parents could have legally chosen to abort but didn't . . . further demonstrating the fallacy of the argument that abortion prevents child abuse.