Cops probe fiery death of South couple

Before taking his last breath, fire victim Frankie Alexander whispered to his eldest son that an unknown intruder, in search of a bag of gold, threw a flammable substance on him (Alexander) and his common-law wife Shirley Gregor as they slept in their San Fernando home and set them and the house alight on Saturday. Alexander, 50, a father of four and Gregor, 41, gave up their struggle for life yesterday morning and died mere hours apart at Ward Three of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). Because of Alexander’s dying words to his son, police told Newsday they were investigating whether foul play was in fact the cause of the fire which took the lives of the couple.

Relatives told Newsday that Alexander, who suffered first degree burns to 99 percent of his body, told his eldest son Adande hours after the incident that someone threw paint thinner on him and set him alight because they wanted a bag of gold. In a statement to the police, Alexander’s dying wife, who was burnt on over 70 percent of her body, said around 1.15 am last Saturday, she and her husband retired to bed at their North Road, San Fernando home. Gregor said sometime later she was awakened by a male voice asking, “Where the gold ...where the gold.” Gregor said she then felt a liquid which smelt like gasolene being poured over her and seconds later she heard a loud explosion and the house erupted in flames. With both of their bodies on fire, Gregor and Alexander ran out of the burning house screaming for help, throwing themselves on the ground and rolling around in an attempt to douse the flames.

Neighbours contacted the fire services and an EHS ambulance arrived shortly after and took the badly burnt, unconscious couple to hospital. The wooden structure, which was not fitted with electricity, was completely destroyed. Alexander’s daughter Feola told Newsday that when she visited her father at hospital, the only part of his body which was not burnt were the soles of his feet. “When I saw him on Sunday, he was crying but trying to move...he was calling for his mother. He shouted ‘Jesus’ three times,” a sombre Feola stated. Alexander’s grieving daughter said she believed that despite the severe burns about her father’s body, he was going to survive.

Feola said she last saw her father two months ago and she was not aware that he shared a common-law relationship with Gregor. Feola, a 22-year-old mother of one, said she was not aware of reports that her father was a drug addict. When Newsday visited the burnt out ruins of the dead couple’s home, a neighbour said Alexander and Gregor were drug addicts and habitually lit fires near their home. The neighbour said on Saturday morning she was awakened by a popping sound but thought the victims were burning rubbish.  An autopsy is scheduled to be carried out on Alexander’s body today at the Forensic Science Centre, St James. Meanwhile, police are appealing to any relatives of Gregor to assist them in officially identifying her body so an autopsy could be carried out to ascertain cause of death. Cpl Edward Levia of Marabella Police Station is leading investigations.