By Calvin Palmer
Police in Houston are searching for a man who assaulted his girlfriend, knocking her to the ground before dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire after she answered a knock on the door of her apartment.
Uriel Vargas Alvarado, 25, is charged with aggravated assault with serious bodily injury despite his whereabouts being unknown.
Alvarado is accused of a assaulting and burning his girlfriend, Juana Patricia DeLeon Hernandez. The 33-year-old single mother was attacked at the Villa Acapulco Apartments when she heard a knock at her apartment door and opened it at 11:40 p.m. on Sunday.
Neighbors who heard Hernandez’s screams rushed to her aid, using their shirts and other clothing to beat down the flames on her body. Witnesses said most of her clothes were burned off her body.
She remains in critical condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital’s burn unit with fourth-degree burns to 70 percent of her body.
Neighbor Fernando Beiza said Hernandez told him that her boyfriend “Uriel” had assaulted her.
Hernandez was alone in her apartment at the time of the attack. Her two sons, ages 13 and eight, were with her ex-husband.
[Based on a report by The Houston Chronicle.]
