Man Who Set Woman On Fire In Elevator Sentenced To 50 Years In Prison

November 8, 2012 at 11:43 am by Morbid  

New York, NY – It’s been almost a year since Jerome Isaac sprayed Delores Gillespie with gasoline and then set her on fire as she stood in an elevator. Yesterday he pleaded guilty to her murder in a deal that will have him serving 50 years in prison.

For those of you who may have missed this heinous story, 47-year-old Jerome Isaac had lived with 71-year-old Delores Gillespie doing odd jobs, and was angry after she kicked him out without paying him the $2,200 he says she owed her for five months of housework. Friends of Gillespie say the woman kicked Isaac out after she found that he had been stealing from her.

In either case, Isaac decided to get his revenge in one of the most worst ways imaginable. Surveillance footage captures Gillespie as she is about to step out of an elevator on the fifth floor of her apartment building after buying groceries. That’s when Isaac barges in while wearing an exterminator’s outfit. He sprays Gillespie in the face and body with gasoline from a canister he is carrying, then lights her on fire. He then tosses a lit Molotov cocktail into the elevator for good measure.

The poor woman cowered in the corner of the elevator in an attempt to protect herself, but residents say they could hear the woman’s agonizing screams as she burned alive. By time firefighters and police arrived, Gillespie had been burned beyond recognition and pronounced dead at the scene. Isaac, known as “Can Man” by others in the neighborhood, had already fled the scene before police arrived. He turned himself in to police later, reeking of gasoline and sporting burns to the side of his face. He was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and arson.

As part of the plea deal, Isaac will serve a 25-years-to-life sentence for Gillespie’s murder, and 25 years for burning down the door of his brother’s home. He will also have to pay $127,228 in restitution. He’ll be officially sentenced on November 30. Prosecutor Mark said this deal was best for everyone as the Gillespie family is spared a trial, and Isaac will more than likely die in prison where he belongs. “He’s a dangerous, dangerous man,” Hale said. 

Gillespie’s daughter, Sheila Hillsman, told New York Daily News she’d like to have seen Isaac suffer a different kind of punishment.”‘It’s too bad that New York doesn’t have the death penalty because I believe they should do to him exactly what he did to my mother.” Here’s some video from the original news report:

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