Satan Put My Baby in the Microwave

By Pamela Mortimer

Former Arkansas resident Joshua Mauldin, 19, was indicted by a grand jury last week on charges of burning his infant daughter in a microwave. The baby, 2-month-old Ana Marie, remains in the hospital in critical yet stable condition, recovering from third-degree burns to her left hand and the left side of her face. She has undergone two skin grafts thus far and is expected to recover.

Mauldin, his wife, his mother, and little Ana Marie had traveled to Galveston because he felt the call to the ministry and was in search of a new job. Mauldin was left alone with his baby on the night the incident occurred. It was, in fact, Joshua Mauldin who called the front desk and asked them to call 911 because his daughter had a bad sunburn and was bleeding. When the police arrived, Mauldin told them that he had tripped and spilled scalding water on his daughter. Then his story changed again. He finally confessed that stress was the reason for putting the baby in the microwave, where he left her for 10 to 20 seconds.

Sgt. Annie Almendarez of the Galveston Police Department was one of the officers who faced Mauldin and the horrible sight of his burned child. "There was no expression," Almendarez said. "There was no expression at all—no remorse."

"Injury to a child causing serious bodily harm" was the charge brought before the court on Wednesday. A courthouse observer reported that less than 10 seconds passed after the door closed and before the grand jurors had made their decision. Mauldin faces a possible prison term of five to 99 years and fines up to $10,000. He remains in county lock up under $250,000 bail. Although the Sheriff’s office will not release any information about Mauldin’s housing arrangements, observers say that he was the only male prisoner in a group of female inmates.

This was not Mauldin’s first brush with the law. He was arrested last October on a charge of third-degree battery and again last month on violation of a protective order. In both cases, the victim listed was Eva Mauldin, his wife and the baby’s mother. Oddly enough, it is Eva Mauldin who is going to the mat for her husband.

The baby’s mother maintains that her husband did no wrong. In fact, she believes that the devil made him do it. "Satan saw my husband as a threat," she said in a TV interview, referring to Mauldin’s recent calling to the church. Mrs. Mauldin has also formed a MySpace page—groups.myspace.com/joshuamauldinisnotamonster—on which she plainly states that "Joshua was possessed, and he tried to get help".

Although Eva Mauldin hopes to be reunited with her baby, Child Protection Services are attempting to sever her parental rights and have placed little Ana Marie in foster care. She is scheduled to be released to foster parents on Monday.