Mom arrested in fire that killed toddler; family problems revealed

A 25-year-old woman allegedly doused her five children with gasoline and set them on fire in their Colorado Springs home Monday night, killing one and critically injuring the others, according to sources.

Maria Darlene Joseph, who also goes by Maria Darlene Gardner, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree murder and is being held at the El Paso County jail without bail.

A source said El Paso County child welfare workers had visited the home in recent weeks.

Department of Human Services officials confirmed that they had contact with the family within the past five years.

The home also was the site of a suicide in October, when the father of three of the children shot himself in the head, officials said.

Police and firefighters rushed to the house at 3225 Galena Court about 10 p.m. Monday after receiving a frantic call from one of the children screaming their skin was on fire, a source said.

Police officers found Joseph’s children inside the house, which was filled with smoke but the fire was out.

Ashya Joseph, 16 months old, died at the scene. The El Paso County Coroner’s Office said she died from smoke inhalation and burns. Her death was ruled a homicide, the third in the city this year.

The four other children — Dontrell Gardner, 9, Domenic Gardner, 8, Supreme Joseph, 5, and Amarjahan Joseph, 3 — were taken to Memorial Hospital. They later were transported to The Children’s Hospital in Aurora where they are in critical condition with severe burns, police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms said.

“The kids were obviously hysterical, and the police did a great job of calming everyone down,” said neighbor Kyle Dennison.

Maria Joseph was lying on the ground about a block away from her home with injuries that were not life-threatening. Arms declined to describe her injuries.

Police and fire investigators have not confirmed the details of the fire, but little fire damage could be seen Tuesday. Arms declined to say where the children were found in the house, though sources say one child was found inside a closet. A burned closet door was carried out Tuesday by investigators, who were at the home until the evening. Two cars were towed from the house, a Cadillac from the garage and a white minivan from the driveway.

Neighbor Mike Heusuk, whose property abuts the Joseph property, said police told him Maria Joseph jumped the fence separating the properties, ran across the yard, jumped another fence and then ran down the street. Police blocked part of Heusuk’s yard with crime-scene tape early Tuesday and took samples from blood splattered on the fence, he said.

Arms said that police investigators went to The Children’s Hospital during the day Tuesday, but the children were not able to speak to them. Investigators from the police department’s Major Crimes Unit, Colorado Springs Fire Department and Colorado Bureau of Investigation were to meet this morning to discuss progress in the case, which is in its “early stages,” he said.

“It’s going to be a slow process,” Arms said.

The state welfare department said it would launch an investigation in light of the girl’s death, a review triggered because El Paso County child welfare workers had been in contact with the family in the past, said spokeswoman Liz McDonough.

Details of the family’s involvement with the DHS are protected by confidentiality laws, she said. The involvement could range from a report by a neighbor to confirmed abuse or neglect.

On Oct. 8, Simeon Joseph Jr., the father of the three youngest children, was found dead in the house. El Paso County Coroner Robert Bux ruled the death a suicide.

Neighbor Andrew Messamer said he saw a woman walking in and out of the home screaming on the day Simeon Joseph died. Neighbors said a lot of family members were seen coming and going from the house immediately after that, but the stream of visitors trickled to a seeming halt in recent weeks. The family been living at the home for about a year.

Family members and friends of the couple couldn’t be reached Tuesday or declined comment.

About three weeks after the suicide, neighbor Ashley Coburn and her mother went to Maria Joseph’s door and offered to baby-sit anytime. She thanked them but never took them up on their offer, Coburn said.

Neighbors said the family kept mostly to themselves, especially after the suicide. The children generally played in their own backyard, said Roger Weidner, a retiree who lives on Galena Drive, perpendicular to the family’s cul-de-sac.

Neighbors said Joseph was conscientious about looking after the children, who appeared to be happy and well-taken care of. They said they’d see her pushing Ashya in a stroller around the neighborhood, walking her older children to school and watching them as they played outside.

“She seemed very concerned about the kids, she had rules for the kids,” Weidner said.

Dontrell would offer to shovel snow for Sandra Morehead and her husband, a retired couple who lives on Galena Drive.

“He was a cute boy,” Morehead said.

Melony Bruno, who lives across the street from the Josephs, said her children sometimes played with Maria Joseph’s children. Bruno and her boyfriend, Ronald Elms, cared for Joseph’s children on the night of the suicide.

Bruno said Joseph didn’t appear to be depressed, though she thought the single mom was struggling. Joseph was a stay-at-home mother before the suicide, Bruno said, but she wasn’t sure if Joseph was trying to find a job.

Bruno said Joseph told her that Simeon Joseph Jr. had lost his job on the morning of the suicide.

“I thought she was holding up pretty well,” Bruno said. “It’s hard for me to follow, but I think she didn’t seek or receive the help she needed after her husband passed.”

Carlyn Mitchell, Brian Newsome, R. Scott Rappold, Dennis Huspeni and Jennifer Wilson contributed to this report.