Man Sets 3 Children, Ex-Girlfriend On Fire
Posted: 5:28 am PDT July 14,
2004Updated: 12:56 pm PDT July 14,
2004
BUCKLEY, Wash. -- A car crashed in flames after the gun-wielding driver doused his estranged girlfriend and three small children with gasoline and set them on fire early Wednesday, authorities said. All five people died.
Antigone Allen, 18, who recently filed an assault complaint against the man, survived for about nine hours at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle following the crash at an intersection near Bonney Lake, a small town east of Tacoma, Pierce County sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said. She managed to tell investigators what happened before she died.
"She was very brave and talked to detectives this morning," Troyer said.
Around 1 a.m., a resident reported hearing a crash and seeing two adults completely on fire as they stumbled across the road at 256th Ave. East and the Sumner-Buckley Highway.
Allen told police the man pulled the gun after he and the others got into the car, then doused them with gasoline and flicked a lighter to set them on fire as he drove, Troyer said.
At some point during the ordeal, the 24-year-old man fired a few shots at the woman, said Troyer, who didn't know whether the bullets hit her.
Police found the bodies of a 6-month-old boy, a 11/2-year-old boy and a 21/2-year-old girl in the charred, overturned car. They were each the children of the man and Allen, who had a troubled relationship in the South Hill area of Puyallup.
The woman's relatives indicated there had been "some unreported domestic violence" before she filed the assault complaint, and a deputy was assigned about two days ago when she failed to follow through, he said.
"They were in the process of getting back together or breaking up, off and on," he said.
Copyright 2005 by KIROTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Video: Fiery Crash Leaves 3 Children Dead
Information From Seattle Crisis Network
Washington State Domestic Violence Hotline: (800) 562-6025 
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