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Brooklyn Woman Dies After Being Set On Fire In Elevator
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 18, 2011
Modified Dec 18, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 18, 2011
Modified Dec 18, 2011
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The police say a woman died after being set on fire in her Prospect Heights apartment building's elevator yesterday afternoon—and they say her killer was caught on video. According to the Post, the surveillance video shows "the suspect was waiting on the fifth floor and ambushed his victim as the elevator doors opened. He sprayed the woman with a flammable liquid and then set her aflame and ran off, leaving her to die in agony, police said." And a resident said, “She was screaming at the top of her lungs."
The building, at 203 Underhill Avenue, had two cameras, one the elevator and one in the hallway. The NY Times described the grim footage:
The man, who appeared to be in his 40s, first sprays the woman in the face, then douses her methodically from head to toe with what a city official said was an accelerant as she turned and cowered, raising her hands, the grocery bags hanging from her wrists.
Having cornered the woman in the elevator, the man struggles to light a barbecue lighter. He then ignites a Molotov cocktail — a wine or Champagne bottle filled with accelerant with a rag stuffed in its neck. He retreats and comes back again, spraying more liquid on his victim. And suddenly the silent video goes white with a conflagration in the small space: the woman, on fire.
Neighbors believe the victim was in her 60s, Delores Gillespie, and had been in the building since the 1980s. Some told the Daily News that she "appeared to be mentally ill and was extremely paranoid... She often complained that upstairs tenants were stealing from her. In recent months, her son, who neighbors said is also mentally ill, was staying with her." Others said she was a beloved neighborhood fixture.
Sources say the police know who the suspect is; five other people were slightly injured in the fire.
Tagged
arson
brooklyn
elevator
fire
murder
prospect heights
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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