50 Years to Life for Man Who Set Woman on Fire in Elevator

The man who doused 73-year-old Delores Gillespie in gasoline and then set her on fire inside her Underhill Avenue elevator has been sentenced to 50 years to life in prison, District Attorney Charles Hynes announced Friday.

Gillespie’s murder, in December of 2011, was caught on video on the elevator’s security camera. In the footage, Isaac, dressed as an exterminator, is seen dousing the woman’s body with gasoline, before he lights her on fire and throws a Molotov cocktail into the elevator.

Isaac said that Gillespie owed him $2,100 for five months worth of cleaning work done in her apartment.

Isaac will not be eligible for parole for at least 50 years, when he is 98 years old, a spokeswoman for the DA's office said.

When the plea deal was announced in November, Gillespie's niece called the sentence a "profound disappointment."

Tracy Robinson said via e-mail the plea deal has renewed her anguish over the "blatant, cruel, and horrific" method of the murder, but added that as a "woman of faith,"she believes that "even this is in God's hands."

Shelia Hillsman, Gillespie's daughter, told the Daily News in October that she wished New York state had the death penalty, also would have liked to see a stiffer sentence so they could "do to him exactly what he did to my mother."

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