PANAMA CITY — A woman was hospitalized with second-degree burns early Tuesday morning after her brother allegedly doused her with hot grease, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
Michelle Telfare was taken to a local hospital and then transported to a clinic specializing in treatment of burns after deputies found her with second-degree burns on her head and torso around 4 a.m. Investigators learned she had been arguing with her brother before she was hurt.
According to BCSO reports, Telfare and Atkinson live together with their mother in an apartment at 2205 E. 17th St. Deputies arrived around 4 a.m. and spoke with their mother, Grace Atkinson, who told them Albert Atkinson, 58, had been heating grease to cook something.
She said she turned off the stove and went back to bed in the room where Telfare was sleeping. A few moments later Albert Atkinson came into the room, threw grease on Telfare and told her she was going to die tonight.
Albert Atkinson left the house before deputies arrived, but they caught up with him a short time later at his girlfriend’s house. He didn’t make any incriminating statements to investigators, but he apparently told his girlfriend he’d burned his sister and “taken care of his problem.”
Deputies arrested Albert Atkinson and charged him with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Telfare’s injuries are not expected to be life threatening, but it is possible she might be permanently disfigured, authorities said. The Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga. didn’t provide any information about her condition Tuesday evening.