Man Who Set Girlfriend On Fire At Bensalem Motel To Spend Life In Prison

A man who fatally set fire to his girlfriend in a Bensalem motel last May will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Kevin Lamar Small, 46, of Philadelphia, was sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Melissa Bacon Smith. Small admitted setting off the deadly inferno by flinging a coffee cup filled with gasoline into Smith’s face inside their room at the Lincoln Motel on Lincoln Highway, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's office.

In addition to causing the 46-year-old woman's death, the act caused $1.8 million in property damage, and threatened the lives of more than 40 other guests and employees inside the motel, said Deputy District Attorney Robert D. James.

Smith was a mother of four.

“He basically threw a Molotov cocktail at his girlfriend’s face. Very calmly, he then turned and walked away, and left her there to burn to death," said James.

Small was angry over an argument the couple was having about ending their relationship, authorities said.

An autopsy determined that Smith was alive and conscious while on fire. “The pain from these wounds caused by the active fire would have been considerable and intense,” James said.

In addition to first-degree murder, Small pleaded guilty to two counts of arson, one count of risking a catastrophe, 42 counts of recklessly endangering another person, and one count of possessing an instrument of crime. The judge imposed 10 to 20 years for each arson, three and one-half to seven years for risking a catastrophe, one to two years for each count of reckless endangerment, and two and one-half to five years for possessing an instrument of crime.

The judge ordered each sentence to run consecutively, for a total of life without parole plus 68 to 136 years in prison.

In return for Small’s plea, the commonwealth will not seek the death penalty, the District Attorney's office said.