Woman set on fire, burns alive in NYC elevator

NEW YORK?? A woman burned to death in the elevator of her Brooklyn apartment building Saturday after a man ambushed her, sprayed her with liquid and set her afire with a Molotov cocktail, police said.

The unidentified man was waiting for 64-year-old Doris Gillespie, when the elevator doors opened to her floor of the Prospect Heights building. The man sprayed her with an accelerant and set her on fire, New York City police spokesman Paul Browne said.

"It was apparent he knew she was on the elevator," he said.

No arrests had been made as of early Sunday.

The suspect was dressed as an exterminator, The New York Times reported.

The brutal attack happened shortly after 4 p.m., lasted about a minute and was recorded by two video cameras, including one inside the small elevator.

Brown said the video showed the elevator doors opening to the fifth floor where Gillespie's apartment was located and the assailant stepping in and spraying her.

Gillespie, who had grocery bags in her arms, turned about 180 degrees and then crouched in an attempted to protect herself, he said. But the man sprayed her directly in the face and continued to spray her "sort of methodically" over her head and parts of her body as the bags draped off her arms. She turned around and retreated to the back of the elevator.

At some point, Browne said, the suspect then pulled out a barbecue-style lighter, used it to ignite a rag in a bottle and then waited for a few seconds before using the flames to set her afire, causing smoke to fill the elevator.

The man backed out as she fell to the floor of the elevator, Browne said, and seemed to pause before tossing the bottle inside the elevator and onto her.

Browne would not comment on the motive in the killing, but said the suspect knew his victim.

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Surgical gloves
Investigators believe the suspect fled down the stairs of the building, he said.

Police released still images of the man Saturday night, showing him in a black jacket, wearing what appear to be surgical gloves and with a white dust mask perched atop his head like a pair of sunglasses. He is holding what appears to be a canister with a nozzle and spraying as he steps into the elevator.

The Times reported the suspect appeared to have suffered burns to his face and hands.

Neighbors reported a fire in the building, unaware that the woman was burning to death in the elevator.

Residents were evacuated from the six-story building for hours Saturday night.

One neighbor told the New York Daily News that he heard loud screams before smoke started filling the hallways.

"It was high-pitched yelling," said the 29-year-old neighbor, who identified himself as John. "It sounded like it was coming from the fifth floor."

'We all loved her'
Gillespie lived on the building?s fifth-floor for years and appeared to be mentally ill and extremely paranoid, neighbors told the Daily News.

She complained that upstairs tenants stole from her. Her son, who neighbors said is also mentally ill, was staying with her, the Daily News reported.

However, the Times quoted a neighbor as saying that Gillespie was a postal worker.

Heidi Matthews, 46, who also lives in Gillespie's building, told the Times that the victim "was a part of this neighborhood for years."

"It's hard to believe somebody would do that to her," she added. "We all loved her."

Anyone with information in regards to this homicide is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45711605/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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