Woman burned in fire at group home dies

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Published Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016 | 1:33 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016 | 4:22 p.m.

After setting a blanket on fire with a stove burner, Abebaw Kassa held a caretaker in the bathroom of a group home by holding the door shut, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue officials said.

The woman, Alipio Lolita Budiao, escaped but went back into the house and was severely burned in Wednesday's fire, officials said. Budiao, 60, died Monday, according to the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

Kassa, 32, a resident at the home, was arrested and accused of intentionally starting the fire, which was reported about 5:45 a.m. in the 1000 block of Marion Drive, officials said. He was booked at the Clark County Detention Center on a count of first-degree arson, officials said.

The owner of the home received a voicemail from Budiao as the incident was unfolding saying Kassa was setting the house on fire, according to a fire department arrest report. The homeowner got a busy signal when she called back, officials said.

Another man who lived at the house told investigators he thought Budiao was cooking when the fire alarms went off, the report said.

When he left his room, he saw Kassa holding onto the bathroom door and heard Budiao knocking and screaming, according to the report. “He tried to get him away from the door, but he had a tight grip,” the report said.

Budiao eventually was able to get out of the house, but she was overtaken by the flames when she went back inside and appeared to be retrieving something from a room, the report said.

Firefighters found her badly burned in the front yard, the report said. Kassa, who was inside the house when firefighters arrived, suffered minor smoke inhalation, officials said.

Three other people escaped uninjured. Investigators found the remnants of a blanket and a chair on the stove, as well as another chair on a kitchen counter, the report said.