EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- A teenager who soaked her hair in gasoline to try to kill head lice was critically burned when the gas fumes ignited and set her head ablaze, police said.
Jessica Brooks, 18, was in serious condition today at the burn unit at University Hospital in Louisville, Ky., after Sunday night's fire at her Evansville apartment.
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Police said Brooks was in her apartment's bathroom letting her hair soak in gasoline just before a pilot light from a water heater ignited the gas fumes and her hair.
Investigator Richard Howard said Brooks suffered second- and third-degree burns over more than half of her body and that when firefighters arrived at her apartment they found her horribly burned, blood-covered and skin hanging off her body.
Brooks' roommate, 19-year-old Brie Abshier, told the Evansville Courier & Press that Brooks was in a medically induced coma.
"Jessica's mom can't be in the room for more than 10 or 15 minutes without crying because she can't even realize that's her own daughter," Abshier said, her voice shaking.
Brooks' fiance apparently tried to talk her out of soaking her long hair to kill lice she thought she had caught, but she went ahead with her plan anyway.
Howard said it never should have happened. "You don't use a flammable liquid that's not designed for that," he said. "There's medicines you can get from pharmacies."
Brooks and her fiance, Ronald Young, who's been staying at the Ronald McDonald house in Louisville to be close to her, had planned to wed in May.
Young suffered burns on his arms trying to extinguish the flames.
Abshier said several of Brooks' friends are planning to raise money for her medical costs. Brooks was taking high school night classes in hopes of graduating this year.
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