The Microwave Moms

Police don’t know the motive for the crime. [They] found her six-week-old baby girl dead inside this home from burns suffered in a microwave oven. The child sustained unusual and rare thermal burns. These burns were consistent with only three other cases in this country with the same similar type injuries. Something you would hear in a horror story.

Last week’s episode regarding China Arnold was disturbing to say the least. But even more disturbing is the fact that Arnold wasn’t even the first parent to use a microwave as a weapon, and she wasn’t the last. Serious injury and even death have occurred in infants and toddlers for years, spanning across four decades. Today we’re going to be sharing with you some of those stories that we came across in our research.

In October of 1982, 32-year-old Claudia Raines’ two-year-old daughter presented at a Michigan hospital with extensive third-degree burns to her abdomen, right foot, and left hand. And how did these injuries occur? A microwave oven. Raines has consistently denied placing her daughter in the microwave, although doctors and company representatives have said that was the only explanation for the girl’s extensive burns. And the punishment for microwaving your toddler? Five years probation and a hundred hours of community service for child neglect, and mental health counseling if such treatment is considered necessary by Raines’ probation officer. Visiting Circuit Judge Charles Simons Jr. also issued a six-month suspended sentence to be served in the event that Raines violated the terms of her probation.

Simons was assigned to the case when Circuit Judge Hudson Deming was disqualified for refusing to accept Raines’ attempts to plead guilty and then also refused to accept her no contest plea to the neglect charges. Deming said he rejected the guilty plea because there was insufficient evidence of her guilt. His refusal of the no contest plea was also due to the prior evidence presented when she tried to plead guilty. When questioned about the health of the toddler, Raines’ lawyer William Mills stated, quote, “She’s bombing around like any two-year-old. The child and mother have bonded well. They’re glad it’s over now and they want to put this all to rest,” end quote.

As if the child would know and comprehend exactly what’s going on here! “We’re gonna put this behind us, Mom!” It seems, based on our research, put it behind them they did. An internet search for Claudia Raines brings up very little information. So hopefully this was an isolated incident and her toddler grew up to be a functioning adult. However, some of the other cases we’re about to discuss did not turn out so well.

Nineteen-year-old Elizabeth Renee Ott and her partner, 18-year-old Joseph Anthony Martinez, were living together at the home of his parents in a one-story brick ranch near Chickahominy Lake, just 35 miles east of Richmond, Virginia. Joseph Sr. worked as a plumber’s assistant to provide for his young family, and living at home certainly helped with both finances and the care of the couple’s one-month-old baby boy, whom they named Joseph Lewis Martinez. Joseph Jr. was born on August 18, 1999, a light born out of a recent tragedy. Ott’s 17-year-old brother had recently died in a fiery car crash just a month prior on July 4th, not far from home.

Ott also suffered from epilepsy, and the death of her brother also darkened her mood. She began to experience violent seizures on a more frequent basis. On September 23, 1999, the Martinez family awoke early that morning to discover that baby Joseph was missing. After an exhaustive search, the baby’s aunt discovered him in the family’s 18-inch-wide microwave, where he had patches of redness and blisters all over his skin. A sheriff’s deputy called to the house at 5:43 a.m. to help search for the infant was there when the family found the baby, who was declared dead at the scene.

Medical examiners suspected that he had died after 10 minutes in the microwave when his blood temperature reached 106 degrees. In pre-trial hearings, medical experts testified that Ott’s seizures were often followed by blackouts of up to 50 minutes. The baby’s father, Joseph Sr., told authorities that Ott had stopped taking her medications when she became pregnant and had more than 50 seizures before and after Joseph Jr.’s birth, even dropping the baby on one occasion. Ott told authorities at the time the last thing she remembered was feeding the baby, and that she had a seizure and believed she was putting a bottle of milk in the microwave.

A neighbor noted that Ott’s seizures sometimes left her confused and disoriented. He stated that, quote, “I’ve seen Liz have a seizure. She wakes up and will cook eggs on the counter,” end quote. Elizabeth Renee Ott was sentenced to five years in prison. She entered an Alford plea to involuntary manslaughter, meaning she did not admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her in the death of her infant son. She had been originally charged with first-degree murder. On the stand, Ott wept and clutched a photo of Joseph Jr. She stated, quote, “I love my son, I still love my son, and I will always love my son. I can honestly say that I can’t remember doing this if I did this,” end quote.

Lawyers on both sides acknowledged that what happened that night might never be known. I think it’s quite possible that she did have some sort of seizure. If you remember back to the China Arnold case last week, the coroner actually had done some referencing with regards to another microwave oven case in Virginia. This was the one.

Nineteen-year-old Joshua Royce Mauldin had just moved to Galveston, Texas, with his 20-year-old wife Ava. The couple had met at a church at Warren, Arkansas, and had made the move south after Joshua claimed that he was instructed by God to become a pastor in the Lone Star State. But just one day into the move, things took a dark turn. Mauldin arrived in Galveston shortly after midnight on May 10, 2007. With him were his two-month-old daughter Anna Marie, his wife, his mother, and his younger brother. The family had rented an apartment but decided to spend the night in a motel on Seawall Boulevard because of the late hour.

Mauldin’s mother and brother went for takeout, and his wife left for a few minutes to get toiletries, leaving Mauldin alone with his daughter. According to Mauldin, a strange feeling came over him, and he suddenly felt an urge to get money so he could go to a topless bar. He said he felt a white-hot sensation in his stomach and as if his skin were covered with mud that began to crack and let demons escape from him. Mauldin said he became an observer of his own actions without the ability to control them.

Mauldin tossed his daughter on the bed, punched her in the groin, placed her in the motel room safe, the refrigerator, and finally the microwave oven, where Anna Marie was burned for about 10 to 20 seconds. When the Mauldin family returned to the motel room, they promptly contacted emergency services. According to the responding paramedic, the baby had second and third-degree burns on her face, ear, and hand. After providing several versions of what happened to the baby, including sunburns and a scalding from a spilled cup of coffee, Mauldin ultimately confessed.

Anna Marie’s left ear had to be amputated, and she lost the use of her middle finger and much of the use of her left hand. She also suffered severe burns to the left side of her face. After Mauldin’s arrest, his wife Ava didn’t make things any better. She told a Houston television station that Satan saw her husband as a threat and attacked him. Due to this, she claimed that it wasn’t her husband, that her husband was a wonderful father, and that Satan was working through his weakness. Ava described those weaknesses as an undisclosed mental disability and that her efforts to get help for him had failed.

Some sources stated that Mauldin suffered from schizophrenia and had stopped taking his prescribed medication. Ava went as far as to set up a MySpace page called “Joshua Mauldin is not a monster” in hopes of defending her husband and making pleas for people to help her. Court testimony from those close to him indicated that Mauldin was a good father and that he was the primary caregiver for his daughter. However, court testimony also showed that he had struck his wife at least once, set fire to a school locker at age 16, and was discharged from the U.S. Army after being convicted of stealing a computer.

Although testimony indicated Mauldin had been mentally ill since at least the age of 10 and had been taking antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs for years, psychiatrists said they could not say he was legally insane when he placed his daughter in the microwave. A psychiatrist appointed by the court said he could not rule out that a combination of Mauldin’s mental illness, low blood sugar, and withdrawal from antipsychotic drugs caused the fit of insanity. After six days of testimony, a jury found Mauldin guilty. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Jurors rejected Mauldin’s claim that he was temporarily insane. The jury also found that Mauldin used a deadly weapon, the microwave oven, in commission of the crime. This finding means that Mauldin will have to serve at least 50% of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

On March 17, 2011, 29-year-old Ka Yang, a married Hmong mother of four from Sacramento, did the unthinkable during an 11-minute time period that she was alone with her one-month-old daughter Mirabelle Thao-Lo. She didn’t do the types of things new mothers normally do: swaddle and tend to their needs, look upon them lovingly. No, Ka Yang picked up her infant and carried her to the kitchen of her home, placed her tiny body inside of the microwave, and shut the door. She then set the timer for 2 minutes and 30 seconds and pressed start. Yang cooked little Mirabelle on high heat; the baby’s insides were simply fried.

When first responders arrived on the scene, Yang, who has a history of epilepsy, was very calm and didn’t seem disoriented. It was apparent that she didn’t have a seizure that day. However, when she was initially questioned, Yang told investigators that while she was working on the computer with Mirabelle in her arms, she blacked out and saw bright lights due to a seizure, and woke up on the ground with the baby injured next to a nearby space heater. She tried to lead investigators to believe that the extensive burns on her daughter came from accidental exposure to said space heater. When detectives pointed out inconsistencies in her story, Yang later acknowledged she lied and said she might have a split personality.

Mirabelle had suffered what first responders described as extensive thermal injuries. She was burned from head to toe, but authorities could not find an obvious source for the burns, nor were there any singe marks on her hair or her pajamas. However, after one detective opened the microwave, he found a melted pacifier in it. Upon being told that a pacifier was found in the microwave, Yang admitted to putting her daughter in the cooking device and pressing start. A pathologist testified during the trial that the two minutes of radiation from the microwave essentially cooked the child’s stomach and small intestine.

There was no motive in the case. Yang simply snapped and cooked her baby to death. According to Yang’s court-appointed attorney Linda Parisi, quote, “I think there is no question there are clearly some psychological issues that will have to be investigated,” end quote. On December 18, 2015, Yang was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Yang’s other three children, all under age 7, were removed from the home the day their sister was found dead. They are now living with relatives.

So we talked about postpartum psychosis before when we did our Otty Sanchez episode, and I think we can kind of touch upon it here. I don’t know specifically that any of these folks possibly suffered from this; there were some definite ailments going on. So, for example, Ott. She suffered from epilepsy, and based on what I’m hearing, it could be that she definitely had some sort of episode with a seizure where this happens. Especially where she went off her medication and had so many, that does such damage to your brain that I could see something like this happening.

Then we have Ka Yang, for an example, who used the epilepsy scenario as part of her defense. But I don’t know that that could be correct in this case. When the police came there, like we stated before, she seemed normal. She didn’t seem like she suffered a seizure that day, and she kept changing her story to the point where she was like, “Oh, maybe I have multiple personalities.” We unfortunately don’t have enough information with Claudia Raines to make any heads or tails of it. There really just wasn’t much on the internet to even look into the case. But it definitely deserved mentioning.

And for Mauldin, I mean, I don’t believe men suffer from postpartum psychosis, but I do believe he was off his medication. I think there was definitely a mental health issue there that played a role for sure. I mean, this doesn’t excuse any of this, not at all, not at all. But it’s something to look into. We do talk about men’s mental health quite a bit. And the reason why we bring this up: a couple people last week when we were talking about China Arnold, the question was, was this postpartum psychosis? And we are not doctors, we don’t have any sort of specialty in postpartum psychosis. However, we do feel that it is something the general public does not have great awareness of or has a lot of knowledge about. So I think it’s worth mentioning, because usually when you see a mother killing their son or daughter, sometimes postpartum psychosis is absolutely the cause.

Now, with that said, do I think China Arnold had postpartum psychosis? I’m leaning towards no, because she tried to frame her nephew after doing this. That’s my feeling on it. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, we’re not the judge, we’re not the jury, we’re not doctors. But to me, someone consistently changing a story over and over and over again and then trying to frame a child, no.

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