Woman Answers Door, is Set on Fire

HOUSTON -- Houston arson investigators are looking for the person who set a woman on fire at her front door.

Police said the attack happened at the Villa Acapulco Apartments in southwest Houston at about 11:40 p.m. Sunday.

Police said someone knocked at the woman's door, and when she answered, she was doused with gasoline and set on fire.

"It doesn't appear to be an accident," investigator P. Aranda said.

The person ran off and the 33-year-old woman was left burning from head to toe.

"I saw her screaming for help in Spanish," witness Alejandra Chavira said. "I didn't know what to do but call 911."

"We woke up and saw her running. She was saying, 'Help me. Help me,'" neighbor Yolanda Salinas said. "When I go to sleep, I see the image of her running. It's hard, for my little girl, too. I have a little girl and she saw it, too. She can't sleep."

The woman was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with third- and fourth-degree burns on 70 percent of her body.

"A fourth-degree burn is just a deeper degree than the third-degree was, which is a very devastating and painful burn," said James Snowden with the HFD Arson Division. "The victim could have been dead at the scene without the help from the neighbors."

The woman's name and the name of the hospital she was taken to were not released for her own safety, police said.

Investigators said the woman is a single mother with two children, but the children were not home at the time of the attack.

The front door was damaged from the fire.

"We are looking all over the complex for witnesses and other leads that will help us get who we are looking for. We have a general idea of who we are looking for," said Sgt. Bobby Roberts with the HPD Homicide Division.

Police have not released a description of the attacker.

Investigators said they are talking to anyone who has had a close relationship with the woman, including her ex-boyfriend and ex-husband.

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