A young North Carolina woman was doused with gasoline and set on fire by a sick suspect who then fled the scene. The heartbroken mother wondered, “Why did I put my baby through this?''
Ashanti Downey, 20, was rushed to the hospital on the night of Dec. 16 with second- and third-degree burns on the right side of her body. According to WRAL News in Raleigh-Durham.
Officials at Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford called the Harnett County Sheriff's Office around 7 p.m. Downey was walking along Highway 27 toward the Dollar General in the same town. reported the horrific acts that had taken place.
Downey told investigators that an unidentified man then came up behind her, poured gasoline all over her body and lit a cigarette, starting the fire.
She was later transferred to a local burn center where she was in serious but stable condition with burns to nearly three-quarters of her body, the network said. and a GoFundMe set up by the family..
“How could they do this to my baby?” distraught mother Donesia Davis told WRAL. “You didn't have to do this to her.”
In an online fundraiser that had raised more than $20,000 as of Thursday, Davis wrote that her daughter would have celebrated her 21st birthday on New Year's Day.
“Her life will be forever changed by her hatred of individuals and individuals,” Davis wrote.
“Parents should not see their children in the condition that my daughter is in,” she said. “She is my priority and I have been by her side in the hospital since this incident occurred.”
Davis wrote in a Christmas Day update that her daughter was scheduled to undergo her third surgery soon.
Funds raised will help the family offset the costs of surgery, treatment and rehabilitation, she added.
Harnett County Sheriff Wayne Coates called this one of the most heinous crimes his department has ever seen.
“It's an absolute nightmare for this family,” he said, adding that police were still investigating the motive.
“It could be domestically related,” he said. “It could have been a gang initiation. We're baffled by what happened.”
Meanwhile, David is hoping someone will come forward.
“Someone please tell me the truth,” she said. “You saw it.”
Authorities asked anyone with information to call police. Submit a tip to Ronald Beasley at 910-893-0151, the Harnett County Sheriff's Office at 910-893-9111, the tip line at 910-893-0300, or P3Tips.com.
