A woman who'd been set fire by her husband in their Lowell, Massachusetts, home died after about three weeks in the hospital with serious burns, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Celeste Marte-Lebron, 49, had been in critical injuries before she died of her injuries on April 20, the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office said. Prosecutors were waiting to release the cause of her death until after an autopsy was conducted.
Santos Lebron De Los Santo, 42, was arrested for allegedly dousing her in gasoline and setting her on fire on March 31. Prosecutors have said he had a long history of abusing Marte-Lebron.
A judge ordered him held without bail on charges of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury. At his first court appearance, he hid behind a wall as prosecutors described the allegations.
When the victim was in the bathtub at their Varnum Avenue home, De Los Santo entered the bathroom with a gasoline can and a lighter, poured the fuel on her and ignited it, prosecutors said.
De Los Santo allegedly came up with several explanations for the fire, including blaming it all on an electrical problem with a bathroom light.
A passerby called 911 when she saw fire inside the building, prosecutors have said.
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At a dangerousness hearing, De Los Santo's attorney said the conflicting stories about the start of the fire were due to the man's uncertainty over how it started, and said there were electrical issues at the home being that were being investigated at the time, The Lowell Sun reported.
