An argument between a couple in Philadelphia turned deadly over the weekend. According to NBC 10 in Philadelphia, Kevin Small, 46, lived with his girlfriend, Melissa Bacon-Smith, 46, at the Lincoln Motel.
Shortly after midnight on May15, Small and Bacon-Smith began arguing in their room. Small left the room angry and walked across the street to a Wawa store where a surveillance camera captured him getting a coffee cup and filling it up with gasoline. He went back inside the store, paid for a pack of matches and filled the other cup with gasoline. Surveillance videos captured him returning to the motel with the cups in his hand.
Once inside the room, Small became more upset when Bacon-Smith laughed at him as he placed the cup on the TV. Small told police that while Bacon-Smith was smoking a cigarette, he swung his arm and hit the cup filled with gasoline. The gas splashed on Bacon-Smith and she caught on fire. According to Smith, Bacon-Smith attempted to grab him and begged for help, but he yanked his hands away and left the room.
The fire spread throughout the room as Bacon-Smith’s body burned. Firefighters responded to the fire and were able to keep the fire under control. However, they found Bacon-Smith’s body badly burned once they were able to put the fire out completely.
Small allegedly called his mother and sister and told them that Bacon-Smith looked as if she had turned into Freddy Kruger. He was later found walking in Philadelphia with slight burns on his arms and smelling like gasoline.
The case serves as a reminder of how important it is to do background checks before becoming involved romantically with a person. Small likely had some form of mental health issues and if Bacon-Smith had been aware of that, perhaps she would have steered clear of him and he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to end her life so tragically.
Small has been charged with arson and homicide.
