Man questioned in death of Doris Gillespie, Brooklyn woman burned alive in elevator

A woman was burned alive in the elevator of her Brooklyn apartment building Saturday in a horrific attack that was recorded by two surveillance cameras.

Doris Gillespie, 64, was set on fire by a man who sprayed her with an accelerant and then lobbed a Molotov cocktail into the elevator, the Associated Press reported.

New York City police are questioning a 47-year-old man who walked into a police station, reeking of gasoline, and implicated himself in Gillespie's death, the AP said.

Police had released stills from the surveillance videos in an attempt to identify the man.

In the video, Gillespie, who is seen carrying grocery bags, crouches in the elevator to try and protect herself as the man sprays her with accelerant. The man used a barbecue lighter to ignite the Molotov cocktail, and then threw it at her.

"It was apparent he knew she was on the elevator," police spokesman Paul Browne told the AP.

The New York Daily News described the crime as a "carefully laid trap":

When the elevator reached her floor about 4:15 p.m., she was met by the psycho clad in black and clutching a barbecue lighter, a wine bottle and a canister of combustible fluid resembling an exterminator’s kit. 

“I’ve never seen any s— like this, and I’ve been doing this a long time,” a detective told the Daily News.

The attack took place in an apartment building in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights neighborhood.

A neighbor told The New York Times that Gillespie was a postal worker.

“We all loved her,” another neighbor told the Times, adding: "She was a part of this neighborhood for years.”