Woman killed after psycho sets her on fire
By JOE WALKER, KIRSTAN CONLEY and TIM PERONEPosted: 2:37 AM, December 18, 2011
A Brooklyn woman was horrifically burned to death in her apartment-building elevator yesterday when a maniac guy-pal sprayed her with flammable liquid and set her alight with a Molotov cocktail, cops said.
“She was screaming at the top of her lungs,” said a resident of the Prospect Heights building who heard the sounds of the struggle at around 4:15 p.m.
The 64-year-old victim, who sources identified as Dolores Gillespie, was returning from grocery shopping when the elevator stopped on the fifth floor of the building at 203 Underhill Ave.
POSSIBLE SUSPECT IN POLICE CUSTODY
Her killer — who is believed to be a current or former boyfriend — was waiting in the hallway to strike.
He was holding two terrifying murder weapons — an exterminator-style spray can filled with flammable liquid and a bottle gas-bomb.
Before Gillespie could even step out of the elevator, the fiend, wearing a dust mask atop his head, doused her with the accelerant.
The liquid’s container had a hose like those commonly found on insecticide cannisters, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
“He opens the door and sprayed her methodically over her head, over her body,” Browne said.
“She’s cowering, trying to protect her face with her hands.”
The suspect, described as approximately 40 years old and dressed all in black except for white gloves and the white mask atop his head, stepped out of the elevator and lit the explosive, Browne said.
The killer opened the elevator door again and threw the Molotov onto Gillespie, setting her on fire, Browne said.
But the vicious sicko wasn’t done. He opened the elevator door a final time to spray more accelerant on the burning woman before fleeing, Browne said.
Police sources described the attack as a domestic incident, and Brown confirmed the pair knew each other.
Gillespie’s neighbors were stunned by the hideous crime.
“This is devastating,” said Heidi Matthews, who has known the victim for decades, and said the woman worked for the Post Office.
“She was a fixture in the neighborhood for years. This is unreal. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for you. She bought me flowers for Mothers’ Day.
“She would come home from shopping and say, ‘I have some extra of this, do you need anything?,’ ” said Matthews, 46.
Neighbor Chris Martinez said “she didn’t have any enemies.”
Another neighbor, who heard the victim’s blood-curdling screams, said he rushed out of his apartment to look for the woman.
“I smelled smoke, and then ran back upstairs to call 911,” said the man, who gave his name as David.
“It sounded like a person being attacked, rather than someone stuck in an elevator,” said the neighbor. “It sounded like she was in trouble.”
The fire was raging in the building when residents realized the danger.
“It was a completely glowing flame,” said another tenant, who didn’t want his name revealed.
Five other people were injured, but none seriously.
tim.perone@nypost.com
PURE EVIL:Horrific security video shows the deadly sequence yesterday of a madman spraying his elderly victim in an elevator with accelerant, and about to set her alight.
Read more:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/sent_to_fiery_grave_p9qfUZXfOfo6VJ1lWQK06O#ixzz1gu0AVCfX
