Man indicted on multiple charges for hot grease poured on woman, baby as they slept

Michael Lee Maloney

Credit: Butler County Jail

Credit: Butler County Jail

Michael Lee Maloney

A man has been indicted by a Butler County grand jury on several felony charges for allegedly throwing hot grease on a woman and her baby.

Michael Maloney, 41, of Sycamore Street in Hamilton, is now charged with aggravated burglary and two counts of felonious assault for the incident that happened Dec. 21, according to the indictment filed Thursday.

The injured woman, Jayla Witt, called dispatchers about 7:50 a.m. screaming that someone had broken into her Grand Boulevard residence and burned her and the child.

“Somebody ran in my house,” Witt told dispatchers. “I am burned. Me and my baby are burned.”

Hamilton Sgt. Richard Burkhardt said the woman and her 16-month-old son were intentionally doused with hot oil.

“She was in bed. The guy broke into the house. He had some hot oil and threw it on her while she was asleep and also burnt the child,” Burkhardt said.

Witt has a long road to recovery, according to police a prosecutors.

An investigation pointed to Maloney as the suspect. He was taken into custody on Dec. 29 in Kentucky, waived extradition and was booked into the Butler County Jail about 4:30 p.m. that day.

Maloney, 41, was arraigned Thursday in Hamilton Municipal Court where bond was set at $200,000. He was scheduled to be back in court Friday morning, but because of he direct indictment that will not happen.

The case is assigned to Butler County Common Pleas Judge Greg Stephens, but arraignment of the indicted charges has not yet been scheduled.

In 2000, Maloney pleaded guilty in Butler County Common Pleas Court to voluntary manslaughter for fatally beating a man to death with a baseball bat. Judge Keith Spaeth sentenced Maloney to the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. In 2008, Spaeth denied Maloney’s request for early release from prison.

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