A man, Laquinn Phillips allegedly set his pregnant girlfriend, Andrea Grinage on fire because “he wasn’t ready to be a father”.
The victim a 31-year-old mother-of-three was rushed to a hospital in Maryland after officers responded to a fire and found her with critical burns to over 90 per cent of her body.
She eventually gave birth to a baby girl, Journey Aleah, who was seven weeks premature.
According to ABC7 Grinage told police that Phillips poured flammable liquid on her before setting her on fire.
Police said the woman also warned them that her assailant was en route to Washington to attack her relatives.
“She was very brave. We want her family to know how brave she was, suffering as badly as she was — critically burned, worried about her unborn child, dealing with those injuries and was able to share that information with us so that we could get moving with our investigation and locate this person,” Prince George’s County police spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan told the Independent said.
Police said the suspect turned himself into police in Washington, DC, and is in custody. Charges are pending.
“It all stems from him not wanting to take responsibility of him being a newborn dad, Grinage alleged to WJLA.
Grinage’s father, Arthur Grinage Senior, has set up a GoFundMe page to help his daughter rebuild her life.
“Everything was lost in the fire and she must begin a new with your help. She has a long road to recovery and unknown medical cost,” he wrote.