Crime & Safety

Man Who Set Woman on Fire in Elevator Pleads Guilty

Jerome Isaac, 48, will be sentenced to 50 years to life for killing 73-year-old Delores Gillespie last December.

 

The man who murdered 73-year-old Delores Gillespie by dousing her in gasoline and then setting her on fire inside her Prospect Heights apartment building's elevator pled guity to multiple charges and will be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison, District Attorney Charles Hynes announced Wednesday.

Jerome Isaac, 48, pled guilty to a first-degree murder charge for acting in an especially cruel and wanton manner and intentionally causing death while inflicting great physical pain, according to the Brooklyn DA.

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He also pled guilty to a second-degree arson charge.

Isaac is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 30 by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice to 25 years to life for the murder charge and 25 years for arson, which will run consecutively, the Brooklyn DA said.

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On Dec. 17, 2011, Isaac doused Gillespie with gas inside the elevator of Gillespie’s apartment building at 203 Underhill Ave. in Prospect Heights and set her on fire as she was about to exit. He then doused her again with an accelerant and threw a Molotov cocktail inside the elevator, killing her. Isaac's actions were caught on the elevator's security camera. 

Isaac claimed he was mad at Gillespie because she owed him . Several minutes later, Isaac went to his brother’s building at 315 Lincoln Place and set his brother’s apartment door on fire using an accelerant. Nobody was injured during that incident. Isaac was arrested on Dec. 18.

Gillespie's son, Maurice Gillespie, . 

“She was the most loving and kind person,” Maurice said.  “All she ever did was give, give, give, give, give. She never took from nobody. She gave all her life.” 

 

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