By Matt Coughlin
The Morning Call
PEN ARGYLE, Pa. — A 27-year-old Pen Argyl woman set her girlfriend on fire Sunday night at their home on West Main Street because the woman suspected the victim was cheating on her, according to court records.
When interviewed by police as paramedics tended to her girlfriend, Kayla Lee Mettler said “I lit that b---- on fire … I found out she was cheating on me, and I lit her on fire,” according to court records.
Slate Belt regional police said Mettler sprayed lighter fluid on Brittany Hoey, her girlfriend of five years, and lit it. Hoey suffered second-degree burns to her left ear, arms and chest, police said, and was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest for treatment.
Mettler was charged Sunday night with aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. She was being held in Northampton County Jail on $50,000 bail.
According to court records:
Police were called about 5:57 p.m. to the couple’s home on the 200 block of West Main Street for a report of an “advanced life support call.” Officers found Mettler in her kitchen as paramedics tended to Hoey.
Mettler told police she found out Hoey was cheating and confronted her about it. Hoey left the home because she did not want to talk about it but Mettler said she followed her.
At some point Mettler went back into the kitchen and got a bottle of lighter fluid, police said. She went back outside to where Hoey was standing near a parked car, sprayed the fluid on Hoey and threw a lit match on her, according to police.
A preliminary hearing on the charges against Mettler is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 12 before District Judge Alicia Zito in Bangor.
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