The Brooklyn woman whose boyfriend set her on fire and bludgeoned her with a hammer has burns over 90 percent of her body, prosecutors revealed Thursday in court papers.
In addition to the extensive burns, Alicia Avery suffered “bleeding gashes to her head, skull fractures, damaged teeth” and remains in critical condition at Harlem Hospital, according to a criminal complaint against Larry McGloster.
Wearing a white Tyvek suit, McGloster appeared briefly in Manhattan Criminal Court where he was arraigned on attempted murder, assault and arson raps. The ex-convict was ordered held without bail.
Suspect McGloster turned himself in to police in Westchester County June 13, a day after the attack. He has been charged with attempted murder, assault and arson
The shocking June 12 attack happened inside the apartment of McGloster’s mom at Frederick Douglass Houses on Columbus Avenue, Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, NY.
McGloster, 26, allegedly beat Avery, 32, with a hammer, doused her in accelerant then fled the gruesome scene, authorities charge.Avery, still on fire, stumbled into the hallway and “was crying for help,” the complaint says. A witness wrapped her in a blanket to try to extinguish the flames, according to prosecutors.
Suspect Larry McGloster
When firefighters arrived in the hallway, smoke was still rising from her body. Inside the apartment, officials found blood smeared all over the walls and a can of turpentine, a known accelerant, in the kitchen, court papers allege.
The victim, engulfed in flames, ran up and down the eighth-floor hallway of the building in the Frederick Douglass Houses around 11:45 a.m., pounding on doors and screaming for help, said a good Samaritan who came to her aid.
“I kept hearing someone say, ‘Help me! Help me!” said Bonnie Chapman, a resident of the complex.
“All I did was open my door and I see a person on fire.”
“I just grabbed a sheet and wrapped her in it and laid her down,” said Chapman, 58. “She was in a fetal position. She just kept saying, ‘Help. Somebody please help me, help me,’ [all] balled up.”
With the flames extinguished, the extent of the woman’s horrific injuries became even more apparent.
“Her clothes were actually stuck to her body,” said Chapman. “It looked like a ‘Carrie’ scene.”
“She was bloodied from head to toe.”
The woman, 32, had also been severely beaten with a hammer, and had even lost teeth in the attack, police sources said.
First responders rushed the victim to Harlem Hospital, while police immediately began the hunt for her 26-year-old boyfriend, who also lives in the building.
An accelerant was found in apartment occupied by the suspect’s family, as was the hammer, sources said.
Alicia Avery with on-again, off-again boyfriend, Eddie Williams, suspect Larry McGloster’s romantic rival
Avery’s on again, off again boyfriend Eddie Williams, 35, said he regretted not being there Tuesday morning when Larry McGloster allegedly attacked the 32-year-old Avery. Williams said he and Avery had an on-again, off-again relationship, but had been trying to work things out.
Williams who is McGloster’s romantic rival said he “spoke to her the night before”.
“She was excited for her birthday on the Fourth of July. She wanted to have a pool party. We had some differences. I told her I was going to come home and patch things up. That’s what hurts. Then this happened. I wish I would have come.”
McGloster fled his eighth-floor apartment in the apt complex after the murderous attack.
He subsequently turned himself in to police in Westchester County June 13, a day after the attack. Police arrested him Wednesday at about 3:50 p.m.
McGloster, an ex-convict, has been arrested four times, mostly for petty larceny, cops said. Most recently, on May 27, he was busted for allegedly stealing a portable speaker from a Rite Aid in Manhattan. He was also cuffed for swiping a yogurt from a deli in April 2017, cops said.
There had been no previous domestic incident reports at McGloster’s apartment, police said.
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