A New York man sprayed a 73 year-old woman with gasoline then torched her in an elevator this weekend.
The suspect was arrested today. His face was burned.
The AP reported:
The New York man suspected of spraying a 73-year-old woman with gasoline and setting her on fire in an elevator was charged Monday with murder and arson.
Jerome Isaac appeared in court with the left side of his face badly burned and peeling. He said nothing. He was held without bail, and his lawyer requested solitary confinement for the 47-year-old, as well as medical attention.
Surveillance video from the elevator shows the attack.
According to the criminal complaint, Isaac sprayed Delores Gillespie with gasoline as she stood in the elevator that had just opened to the 5th floor of her apartment building. She crouched and cowered, grocery bags draped off her arms.
Isaac pulled out a barbecue-style lighter, authorities said, and used it to ignite a rag in a bottle. He waited a few seconds, then backed out of the elevator and tossed the flaming bottle in, authorities said.
Gillespie died from burns to her body and smoke inhalation, according to the criminal complaint.
Isaac has no criminal record, but that does not mean he is not highly dangerous, Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub said.
“I know this is the defendant’s first offense, but the depravity of this particular single act is beyond my description,” he said.
Cops arrested this man.
Jerome Isaac is led out of the 77th Precinct in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011, following his arrest in the death of a woman set afire in an elevator. Isaac told police he set 73-year-old Deloris Gillespie on fire because he was angry that she owed him $2,000, authorities said Sunday. (AP/Robert Mecea)
