A North Shore woman who was set on fire in Indio last month, allegedly by her adult son, died in a hospital over the weekend, the county coroner’s office reported Monday.
Francisca Ramirez, 61, died just before 6 p.m. Sunday at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, about one month after her 36-year-old son, Israel Guardado-Ramirez, allegedly set her on fire outside the Mathis Brothers furniture store where she worked, according to the Indio Police Department.
Ramirez was set aflame on the store’s loading dock around 6 a.m. Jan. 26 and was airlifted to the Colton hospital with burns ober more than 50 percent of her body.
She told Indio police that following an argument involving a child custody issue, her son used “some type of accelerant” to set her on fire, according to Indio Sgt. Daniel Marshall. The suspect then walked into the Riverside County jail in Indio and turned himself in, Marshall said.
In a declaration supporting an increase in his $1 million bail, Indio police Detective Jesse Marin said the defendant, who was living out of his car at the time, traveled to Indio “with the purpose of `settling matters’ with family members, which included his mother.”
Though the exact nature of the custody dispute between Guardado- Ramirez and his mother remains unclear, family members have said that the defendant has a teenage daughter.
Prosecutors charged him with attempted murder and torture last month. The DA’s office is expected to amend the complaint to make it a murder case.
Guardado-Ramirez is next due in court March 19 for a felony settlement conference.
–City News Service