Neighbors say it is a Thanksgiving scene they will never forget.
“Her back was on fire, her upper half was on fire,” saws witness Carri Bulthuis.
Across the street on John Crump Lane, their female neighbor was on fire.
Investigators say the woman told eyewitnesses her estranged boyfriend threw rubbing alcohol on her and lit it.
“The boyfriend was there and said ‘I didn’t do it, I didn’t touch her.’ I said ‘I don’t care get off her, get off her.’ At that time she was in her car, trying to get in and he was pulling on her and the shirt was still on fire in the driveway. There was nothing left of her back,” Bulthuis said.
The fire marshal says they believe the man responsible is 41-year-old Jose Hernandez.
“I didn’t see him run off but I had a face to face conversation with him and it wasn’t a good conversation. I started screaming at him to get away from her because I was worried about her, seeing if she needed help,” said another witness.
“The information we got was she ran through the house and possibly jumped a fence and is somewhere in the neighborhood on foot,” said Harris County Fire Marshal Captain Dean Hensley.
Deputies say they have been to the home before on family violence calls. This one had a very disturbing ending.
“Not in my neighborhood. Why, why would you do that to another human being. Why today?” Bulthuis said.
