Pittsburgh woman Leigh Ann Sepelyak, 36, is being charged with attempted homicide and arson after police accused her of setting her boyfriend on fire and then using a bucket of urine to put out the flames.
According to KDKA, Sepelyak lives with her boyfriend Gary Spencer in her parent’s basement, and the couple used a bucket as a toilet so as to not bother her parents while they slept. The couple had an argument late on Saturday night or early Sunday morning, and when Spencer went to bed, Sepelyak allegedly poured gasoline all over their mattress and threw a lit cigarette next to her boyfriend. When he woke up in flames, she threw the bucket of urine in their room on him to help douse the fire.
Sepelyak’s parents, who heard the man’s screams after the fire started, are telling a slightly different story. Sepelyak’s mother told KDKA that Spencer "had a cigarette or something. He fell asleep with a cigarette." A reporter for KDKA who visited the home on Tuesday morning found a mattress and box spring on the curb.
And there's yet another version of the story floating around out there, too. Spencer emailed KDKA to tell his side of it, which is wildly different than the one police provided when charging Sepelyak.
Spencer wrote: "I was tinkering with a weed wacker on my bed drunk as a skunk. I gassed it up, spilled it on myself...lit a cig, layed back on bed and I went up in flames...if she didn’t put it out it would have been worse."
It remains unclear if Spencer is trying to cover up for his girlfriend or if the police have the wrong story. Either way, Spencer remains in the hospital, and Sepelyak was sent to the Allegheny County Jail on Sunday but left after posting bail on Monday. A hearing is set for Monday, July 17.
