Man Allegedly Attempts to Murder Girlfriend by Setting Fire to Her Home After Romantic Gesture

A man in Florida is said to have given his girlfriend flowers and chocolates, but the next day he supposedly set fire to the house they shared.

William Clements Jr., 73, is being held at the Brevard County Jail without bond because police say he set fire to his girlfriend’s house while she was sleeping to try to kill her. An arrest document says that the woman, who was not named for her safety, was taking a nap on April 4 in the afternoon. When she woke up, she smelled gasoline and saw flames under her bedroom door. Since there was a fire outside her room, she was stuck inside until help arrived.

Another group of people nearby told the police that they saw Clements leaving the area on foot “in a hurry” around the same time.

When deputies and first rescuers from Brevard County got there, they ripped open the woman’s bedroom window from the outside to free her and her dog. The statement says that when they pulled her out of the fire, she was “struggling to breathe, bright red, and had skin peeling off her body.”

The woman was taken to the hospital by helicopter because her injuries were so bad. According to local NBC station WESH, she had burns on almost 60% of her body. The affidavit also said that she had problem talking because her throat was being burned. She could still tell the cops that she thought Clements was the one who tried to kill her, though. The woman brought up a quote that she said Clements had made before: “You don’t kill a woman, you just permanently disfigure them.”

As soon as the police got to the scene, they caught up with Clements. He is said to have told the cops, “You’re here for me, right?” when they finally caught up with him.

The affidavit said that firefighters found “two separate points of origin” for the house fire, which led them to believe that it was set on purpose. A five-gallon red gas can was also found inside.

WESH talked to the woman’s friend Angela Klusek, who knew that the couple had a history of violence. “He brought her flowers and chocolate the night before the fire,” she told the station.

Affidavit says that the woman said in a signed statement that Clements had been her boyfriend for nine months and had lived with her for four. She said earlier this year that she and Clements had two other alleged domestic violence events. In February, she said, she was locked in her bedroom with zip ties. She said that Clements “punched her over and over until her front tooth was knocked out” while she was stuck. On her phone, police found pictures of her injuries from the claimed attack.

Clements has been in trouble with the law since 1993, when he was found guilty of kidnapping and raping his wife. He was out on bail for those charges at the time of the February event.

Clements was charged with aggravated battery causing physical harm and false imprisonment of an adult on April 7. After the fire was looked into, he was charged with attempted murder, animal abuse, and setting the fire on April 17. At this time, he is still being held without bond at the Brevard County Jail.

Court records show that a hearing that was supposed to happen on May 13 was canceled.

You can call the National Domestic abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or go to thehotline.org if you are subject to domestic abuse. Calls are free, private, and can be made at any time in more than 170 languages.

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