According to authorities, a woman in New York City is in jail for allegedly starting a “raging inferno” that killed her ex-boyfriend and a female friend who attempted to save him inside a garage last month.
According to the Queens District Attorney’s Office, on November 2, his ex-girlfriend, 43-year-old Aliya Fakhri, “deliberately” set a fire close to the garage’s entrance while Edward Jacobs, 35, a father of three who leaves behind twin boys, ages 11 and 9, was sleeping on the second floor of the two-story garage.
Janet Jacobs, Jacobs’ mother, told the New York Post that her son was still attempting to reconcile with Fakhri after they broke up almost a year ago.
“Like any other person that is being rejected, he was letting her know like ‘Yo, I’m done with you. Get away from me,'” Janet stated. “He’s been trying to tell her to leave him alone for the past year, but she wasn’t accepting the rejection. They broke up a year ago.”
When the fire broke out, Jacobs was apparently working on a building project at a house in Queens that involved turning the garage into an apartment.
Additionally present at the house was his friend, 33-year-old Anastasia Ettienne, with whom Jacobs’ mother described their connection as platonic.
According to the prosecution, Fakhri arrived on November 2 at approximately 6:20 a.m. and shouted from outside, “you’re all going to die today,” before setting the garage on fire.
“A witness who was inside the [adjacent] property came downstairs and discovered that the building was on fire,” according to prosecutors. “Ettienne was alerted to the fire and went downstairs briefly. The woman then returned upstairs in an attempt to save Jacobs, who was sleeping. The building became engulfed with flames and neither Jacobs nor Ettienne could escape.”
Following an investigation by the FDNY fire marshals and New York’s Department of Buildings, Fakhri was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and arson.
Prosecutors said she was remanded after being charged on Nov. 27 and will next appear in court on Dec. 9.
If found guilty, Fakhri faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
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“This defendant maliciously ended the lives of two people by setting a fire that trapped a man and woman in a raging inferno,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz stated. “The victims tragically died from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries. Our condolences are with families of Edward Jacobs and Anastasia Ettienne as we prosecute this case.”
According to Jacobs’s online obituary, he was “a man who lived boldly” and “loved deeply.”
