Arraignment Set For Indio Man Accused Of Setting Mother Ablaze

INDIO, CA — A man accused of setting his mother on fire in Indio, causing her to be hospitalized for a month before she died from burns over more than 50 percent of her body, was ordered to be in court Tuesday to enter a plea.

The arraignment had been scheduled Monday but was postponed for a day because of a paperwork mixup; a transportation order to deliver him from the county jail to the courthouse was not filed.

Israel Guardado-Ramirez, 36, is accused of setting fire to Francisca Ramirez, 61, of North Shore, on Jan. 26 at the loading dock outside the Mathis Brothers furniture store where she worked. Ramirez was hospitalized at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where she died of her injuries just before 6 p.m. Feb. 25.

Prosecutors charged him in January with attempted murder and torture, but following her death, DA's spokesman John Hall said an amended complaint adding one count of murder would be filed. Guardado-Ramirez remains in custody on $1 million bail.

Shortly after Ramirez was taken to the hospital, she identified her son as her tormentor, police said. He used "some type of accelerant" to set her alight following an argument involving a child custody issue, according to Indio police Sgt. Daniel Marshall. Guardado-Ramirez 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.

— By City News Service / Image via Shutterstock