Man Dies After Being Burned in Domestic Dispute
A woman was in custody after Red Springs police said she set her house on fire with her boyfriend inside Tuesday.
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When officers responded to a house fire at 120 Hackett St. shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday, they found Austin Wilson, 69, on the roadway in front of the residence with severe burns.
Wilson died Tuesday afternoon at the UNC Jaycees Burn Center in Chapel Hill, police said. He had suffered third-degree burns over 80 percent of his body.
Sheila Carolina Oxendine, 36, was charged with attempted first-degree murder and first-degree arson Tuesday morning. The attempted murder charge was upgraded to murder after Wilson's death, police said.
Oxendine had been involved in a domestic dispute earlier with Wilson, police said. While Wilson was sleeping in bed, Oxendine doused him with an unknown flammable liquid and set the house on fire before fleeing, police said.
According to Red Springs Police Chief Troy McDuffie, the house was “fully engulfed in flames.”
Investigators said Wilson was able to identify Oxendine as the person who set him on fire. They arrested her after they found her hiding in a back room at 839 West Ave.
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