Mary Mazalic, Mukilteo Woman, Charged With Starving, Burning, and Beating 10-Year-Old Adopted Girl (blogs)

Mary Mazalic, Mukilteo Woman, Charged With Starving, Burning, and Beating 10-Year-Old Adopted Girl

By Curtis Cartier Tue., Sep. 20 2011 at 11:04 AM

When Child Protective Services investigators came to the home of Mary Mazalic in Mukilteo last month, they noted that almost everyone there appeared to be well-fed: Mazalic herself, her boyfriend Derron, and even their dog, who looked "significantly overweight."

The only person who didn't look well fed was a 10-year-old adopted girl, who weighed less than 50 pounds, trembled constantly, and was covered in signs of horrific abuse.

According to court documents obtained by Seattle Weekly, Mazalic is accused of habitually abusing the 10-year-old girl, referred to as "N.A.", for nearly a year.

The girl was adopted by Mazalic's boyfriend's mother and given to them for caretaking.

That caretaking allegedly involved starving the girl, beating her with cords, forcing her to sleep in a bathtub or outside, burning her with cigarettes, putting soap in her food when she ate, making her wear soiled diapers on her head, and threatening to kill her and dump her body in a lake.

Police were tipped off to the situation after Mazalic came into a store with the child in tow to buy a bathing suit for a vacation.

Two women who worked at the store noticed that N.A. look emaciated, and was trembling. Her face was sunken, and she did not appear to have any muscle on her body. One clerk noticed that N.A. was shaking the entire time she was in the store, and that N.A. followed the defendant around "like a puppy." They noticed that N.A. had a fresh-looking gash on one of her wrists. he two clerks engaged the defendant in conversation, learning that she was going on a cruise, but that N.A. was not allowed to go. The defendant told the clerks that N.A. was a "bad kid."

After being removed from Mazalic's home by CPS and put in a hospital, the girl gained some 20 pounds.

Doctors found cigarette burns on her feet and buttocks. They found welts on her stomach and chest from beatings with cords and whips. And they found skin scaling that appeared to be from forcing the girl to wear dirty diapers.

The girl told police that Mazalic wanted to leave scars on her so when she went to a "group home," people would know she "how bad she is."

Mazalic is described by investigators as a pathological liar and an opiate addict.

It turns out that another child may have been abused by Mazalic and her boyfriend as well. That child, who has since been sent to juvenile jail, told police that he'd rather stay in jail than go back to the home where he was routinely abused.

Mazalic is currently being held on $500,000 bail. If convicted she'll face a minimum of eight-and-a-half years in prison.

Her boyfriend has not been charged with any crime yet.

Mary Mazalic Charging Docs

see http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/53128