DUBAI: A woman is New Jersey has been arrested for allegedly torching the house of a man who, it was believed, had called her at 4am for sex but asleep while waiting.
“I see you wanna die,” police investigators quoted the woman, 29-year-old Taija Russell, as saying in text messages to the victim, whose name was withheld. “You wasted my money to come out here.”
Citing the police, various media organizations, among them London’s Daily Mail, New York Daily News, and USA Today, reported that Russell, upon arriving at the house, sent a series of angry texts to the man, who at the time was deep in sleep. She then bought a lighter fluid, matches and a lighter at a nearby gas station around 4 a.m.
The man’s phone also has eight missed calls, according to police.
According to police reports, he got up at around 4:30 a.m. to see his house on fire, with flames blocking the exit from his smoke-filled residence. The man escaped death by physically removing a window frame and climbing through the opening, police said.
He then ran to the nearest police station, which reportedly was about two-tenths of a mile away, “covered head to toe in soot and ash” and wearing only a T-shirt.
He “frantically” announced that his residence was burning, then ran back to his home, says the probable cause statement, USA Today reported, adding that the victim was treated for smoke inhalation and first- and second-degree burns.
The house was completely destroyed, police said.
As of press time, Russell was being held on charges of attempted murder, aggravated arson, endangering and criminal mischief.
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