Left: Sean Hofmann (Tulare County Sheriff”s Office). Right: Sheena Hofmann (GoFundMe).
A California man is behind bars after he allegedly doused his wife of a decade in gasoline and set her on fire.
Deputies with the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office responded just before 5:30 p.m. Friday to the 24100 block of Avenue 120 in Porterville — some 50 miles north of Bakersfield — for a medical call, the agency said in a press release. When they arrived, they found the victim suffering from severe burns to her arms, face and torso.
“Through their investigation, deputies learned 42-year-old Sean Hofmann had intentionally poured a highly flammable accelerant on or near the victim, catching her on fire,” the press release said.
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She was flown to a hospital where she was listed in stable condition, although she faces a long road to recovery. Cops took Hofmann into custody on charges of aggravated assault and arson.
Michael Post, the victim’s son, in an interview with local ABC affiliate KFSN identified the victim as his mother Sheena Hofmann. He said he received a call from his sister.
“She was like, ‘You need to get to mom’s house now. Your stepdad just covered her in gasoline and said he’s going to light her on fire,'” Post recalled to the TV station.
Post said while he never saw the couple physically fight, they argued often in their 10 years of marriage. Cops did not say what led up to the incident. Post wrote in a GoFundMe post that he “never dreamed” of such a “horrific domestic violence incident” happening in his family. He told KFSN his mother often opened her home to friends and family with open arms.
“Her home is where everybody goes to. It’s always like if anybody needs anything, they call her. She’s always the one who runs to people’s rescue if they need it,” the son said.
Hofmann is being held at the Tulare County Jail on a $1 million bond.
