David Edward Maust - Early Life

Early Life

David Edward Maust was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania in 1954. His parents were George and Eva Maust. The surname Maust rhymes with "exhaust" and is of Amish origins. The father divorced and left the mother when Maust was 7. The father was raised in foster homes—his parents died before he was 12. Maust was confined in a mental institution at the age of nine at the request of his mother. His mother claimed he set fire to his younger brother's bed, and later tried to drown the brother. However, his mother was described by a social worker as "disturbed," "psychotic," "functioning marginally," "needy," and "narcissistic." She had spent a month in a mental hospital in Pennsylvania. A later report on Maust said that the institution where he was confined was filled with children who were there more often than not because family members were mentally ill and couldn't, or wouldn't, take care of them. At the institution it was felt that Maust's mother institutionalized him simply “dumped” him there.

Regarding his mothers stated reasons for bringing him there, “staff there did not observe the lying, stealing and out-of-control behavior.” His mother was asked to be specific about trouble Maust caused during home visits, but she failed to do so. She ended up saying "she just doesn't want him at home."

In fact, Maust did have an early history of violence, having choked (but not killed) two friends for no reason. His brother remembered Maust beat a squirrel to death with a baseball bat “for fun”.

The brother recalled that Maust had been molested at an early age. At the hospital Maust was well-behaved, but despondent over his mother's failure to visit him with any regularity. After Maust left the hospital, he came to live at a children's home where, at age 13, he was subjected to unwanted sexual advances by another boy.

As a young adult, he worked in construction for his uncle in Wrightsville, Georgia, and was a skilled worker, but was eventually fired after crashing a company truck.

Maust tried to return home to his mother, but she did not want him to return and in fact threatened him with a knife. His mother took him to an Army recruiter and in 1971, at age eighteen, he enlisted in the Army. He completed Basic Training at Fort Lewis and AIT at Fort Ord, and in 1972 was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. He served as a cook, and was by all accounts an able serviceman. He was also a keen bowler, averaging scores as high as 297, and won numerous awards and money prizes in his Army bowling league.