ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WIS/Gray News) – A woman died days after her boyfriend set her on fire in South Carolina, according to the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office.
The fire happened on Feb. 8 at the home Michele Gillis, 60, shared with her boyfriend, Harry Wolfe.
According to authorities, Gillis told deputies she was sitting in a chair in the living room when Wolfe entered the home saying he was “going to get her” before he threw gasoline on her and set her on fire with a match.
Gillis suffered third degree burns to the upper body and facial region, an arrest warrant said.
Wolfe admitted to a deputy he set Gillis on fire, but said he was not trying to kill her, according to the incident report.
Gillis died from her injuries last Thursday.
Wolfe was arrested and is in jail without bond, according to authorities.
Gillis’s son, Terrance Bottoms, told WIS he was disappointed in the lack of information they received about the details of his mother being burned.
“We’re steady asking investigators, ‘What can you tell us? What happened?’” Bottoms said. “Because the only thing we knew at that point was he called my aunt and said he lit my mother on fire. We didn’t even get a full story of what happened until the news reports came out.”
Chief Deputy Chandra Gibbs said the agency treated the investigation as a domestic violence case.
Gillis claimed Wolfe had been physical in the past, according to the incident report
Bottoms has a message for anyone dealing with domestic violence.
“One time is too much because if he did that to my mom, he had to have been physical with her at some point,” he said.
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