Minneapolis man charged with burning, killing girlfriend
Updated: 6:10 p.m. | Posted: 5:10 p.m.
Hennepin County prosecutors Friday charged a Minneapolis man with second-degree intentional murder for allegedly setting his girlfriend on fire. Vanessa Danielson, 36, died Thursday.
Prosecutors say Wyndale Fayson, 32, went to Danielson's apartment in the 2900 block of Taylor Street Northeast before 3 a.m. Thursday and threatened to kill her.
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According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office:
Danielson's downstairs neighbor told investigators that at 3 a.m. he heard her screaming "he's going to kill me, he has a gun." The neighbor shouted up, asking if she was okay. When she said no, he called 911, the complaint states.
Fayson was gone by the time police arrived. Then four hours later, officers returned after getting a report of a woman screaming.
Officers found Danielson in her front yard badly burned and her apartment on fire. Prosecutors say Danielson told a neighbor that Fayson started the fire.
A witness told police he saw Danielson "on fire from head to toe and watched her fall down the exterior steps of the building." The witness grabbed a blanket and rolled Danielson on the grass to put out the fire.
The criminal complaint said the woman told paramedics she woke up with her bed on fire. Investigators found a melted 2 gallon gas can in Danielson's home and the fire appeared to have burned hottest in her bedroom.
She died at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Police found Fayson about three blocks away. He was hospitalized with serious burns.
No first appearance has been scheduled.