Murder Attempt Paxil 17/08/1999 South Carolina Man Set Girlfriend on Fire
 
 Summary:<br><br><!--StartFragment -->Paragraph 16 reads:&nbsp; &quot;&#39;Apparently<strong> he has been abusing (Paxil, an antidepressant medication</strong>) with alcohol,&#39; Wells said.&quot;<br /><br />Paragraph 5 reads:&nbsp; &quot;<strong>Torries, who is on antidepressant medication and under the care of the Union County Mental Health Department, is being held in the Union County Jail under suicide watch.&quot;</strong><br />_______________________________________________________________________<br /><br />Man charged with setting woman on fire Girlfriend in serious condition after surgery for severe burns<br />Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC)<br />August 17, 1999<br />Author: CHRIS WINSTON; Herald-Journal <br />Estimated printed pages: 3 <br /><br /><br />A Union County man was arrested Monday morning and charged with setting his girlfriend and their home on fire.<br /><br /><br />Ronald Paul Torries, 39, of 935 Linersville Road, Buffalo, was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill and first-degree <strong>arson</strong> in the Sunday morning fire.<br /><br />His girlfriend, Belinda K. Jett, 49, was in serious but stable condition at the Burn Center of the Columbia-Augusta Medical Center in Augusta, Ga., after undergoing surgery for severe burns on her upper torso.<br /><br />Union County Sheriff Howard Wells said that Torries doused Jett with alcohol before lighting tissue and throwing it at her.<br /><br />Torries, who is on antidepressant medication and under the care of the Union County Mental Health Department, is being held in the Union County Jail under suicide watch.<br /><br />Wells said Torries will be taken to the Mental Health Department in Columbia for mental evaluation before being arraigned.<br /><br />&quot;You have to be in a bad situation before you can even imagine yourself setting someone on fire,&quot; Wells said. &quot;That&#39;s one of the most horrible things you can do to somebody.&quot;<br /><br />Jett&#39;s son, Phillip, said he has told his mom to stay away from Torries for the entire year they&#39;ve known each other. But nothing he has said has made a difference.<br /><br />&quot;She&#39;s real kind-hearted and likes seeing the good in people,&quot; said Phillip Jett, who said his mom had just gotten a job with Cost Cutters in Gaffney. &quot;I tried to tell her that he didn&#39;t have any good in him, but she wanted to keep giving him more chances.&quot;<br /><br />The couple had another incident late last year while living in Jonesville, but neither of them had ever told Phillip Jett, he said.<br /><br />&quot;Apparently, he roughed her up a little, but they kept it from me,&quot; he said. &quot;She would live with me and then get back on her feet. She just got a place on her own, and he moved in with her.<br /><br />&quot;I knew there was something wrong with him. I knew he drank a lot. But I didn&#39;t expect anything to ever get this bad.&quot;<br /><br />When sheriff&#39;s deputies arrived at the couple&#39;s home Sunday morning about 9:30 a.m., Jett told them Torries had started the fire and tried to kill her.<br /><br />When the deputies found Torries in the home, he had a rope around his neck and told them he had taken a lot of pills and expected to die.<br /><br />Torries was taken to the hospital, where his stomach was pumped and he was held overnight for evaluation. He was released into the custody of the sheriff&#39;s department Monday morning.<br /><br />&quot;Apparently he has been abusing (<strong>Paxil</strong>, an antidepressant medication) with alcohol,&quot; Wells said.<br /><br />Bonnie Wood, who has lived in the home across the street at 924 Linersville Road for 16 years, said she has never seen anything like the sight Sunday morning.<br /><br />Wood and her husband noticed the house across the street was on fire, and they went over to help put it out.<br /><br />&quot;I knew them when they went down the road, but I didn&#39;t really know them. I had no idea he was dangerous. That&#39;s really scary,&quot; said Wood, who said Jett had lived across the road since April.<br /><br />Wood, who took Jett across the street to call 911 and the police, said Jett told her that Torries planned to &quot;torture her all day before killing her and then himself.&quot;<br /><br />While the ambulance was in route, Wood tried to care for Jett, who was severely burned on her back, shoulder, arm and neck.<br /><br />&quot;She kept telling me that she was burning, and I was trying to cool her off,&quot; Wood said. &quot;That is an image that I will not forget. There was nothing I could do to make it any better.&quot;<br /><br />Chris Winston can be reached at chris.winston@shj.com or 582-4511, Ext. 7424.<br /><br />Section:&nbsp; A-1<br />Page:&nbsp; A1<br />Index Terms: A-1<br />Dateline:&nbsp; BUFFALO&nbsp;<br />Record Number:&nbsp; 10B367F6A3986958 <br /> 
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