It was behind door 518 at a Galveston motel room where the unimaginable happened: A father put his two-month-old daughter in the microwave and turned it on.

Last Thursday, Joshua Mauldin, 19, was alone in the motel with his baby when he called for help.

“The father called down here, asked us to call 911, claimed that the child had a bad sunburn and was bleeding,” hotel manager James Marx said.

Marx said he didn’t seem distraught at all.

Mauldin later told police it wasn’t a sunburn, but that he had accidentally spilled boiling water on the child.

Then his story changed again.

“The first time, he tripped,” Galveston Police Sgt. Annie Almendarev said Wednesday. “Then he said, no, he was drinking it and spilled it. There were just too many inconsistencies.  He just couldn’t keep his stories straight.”

A tip then led investigators to the hotel room’s microwave, where they discovered the baby had been placed inside.

Mauldin then confessed, saying stress had driven him to burn his child.

“There was no expression. There was no expression at all. No remorse,” Almendarev said.

GCSO

Joshua Mauldin

The baby girl was rushed to Shriners Hospital, where she’s undergone two skin graft surgeries and is in critical but stable condition.

She suffered severe burns to the left side of her face and left hand.

“I’ve been doing this for a lot of years and actually it brought tears to my eyes,” Galveston Police Sgt. Annie Almendarev said. “The baby is burned on the left side here and it’s just really bad. Her hand is so swollen – if you’ve ever touched something hot you know you get that big boil on your hand – it looks like she’s holding a ball in her little bitty hand. It was just heartbreaking.”

Investigators believe the child was in the microwave for ten to 20 seconds.

11 News

Behind this door, the unthinkable happened: Joshua Mauldin put his daughter in the microwave and turned it on.

“I’m sitting there looking at the pictures and I’m sitting there looking at him, and there’s nothing I could really do about it but just keep my composure,” Almendarez said.

Mauldin had checked into the hotel last week along with his baby, his wife and his mother.

Police said he came to Galveston from Arkansas in search of a job as a minister.

“He’s the worst scum of the earth. I can’t … It makes you want to have cameras in the rooms,” Marx said.

At the time of the incident, Mauldin’s wife and mother were reportedly picking up dinner at a nearby restaurant.

According to police reports, he told investigators God ordered him to go to Galveston.

Mauldin was being held in the Galveston County Jail facing felony charges of injury to a child.  His bond was set at $250,000.

Prosecutors said, if convicted, he could face anywhere from five to 99 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.