A suspect in a deadly arson told
police he knocked over a cup of gasoline on his girlfriend as she was
smoking a cigarette, causing her to burn to death, according to an
affidavit.
Kevin Small, 46, of
Philadelphia, is charged in the death of his girlfriend, Melissa
Bacon-Smith, 46, also of Philadelphia, after she was found dead inside a
motel room
Police and firefighters first
responded to a report of a fire at the Lincoln Motel, on Route 1 near
Northgate Drive in Bensalem Township shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
When they arrived they found flames and heavy smoke inside the building.
Firefighters extinguished a blaze in a first-floor motel room and later
found Bacon-Smith's body inside. Investigators say she had suffered
severe burns.
Officials say they interviewed Small as well as his sister and mother.
Small's sister told officials her brother had called her around 2:35
a.m. and told her that he got in a fight with his girlfriend Bacon-Smith
and set her on fire as a result, according to the affidavit. Small's
mother also told police that her son called her around 2:30 a.m. and
confessed to throwing gasoline on Bacon-Smith's face, officials said.
Small allegedly told his mother that Bacon-Smith, "looked like Freddy
Kruger."
A desk clerk at the
motel told investigators that before police and firefighters arrived,
she entered room 103 after receiving a report of a person on fire. When
she opened the door she noticed a person on the bed who was on fire and
yelling. She was unable to get inside the room however due to the flames
and left to help evacuate the entire motel. The clerk told
investigators flames inside the room had spread to the curtain, bed and
in front of the television.
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