A grand jury indicted a Calverton man on upgraded charges after he allegedly set his homeless girlfriend on fire while she slept two weeks ago, Suffolk County prosecutors said.
Ryan Osborne pleaded not guilty Tuesday at Suffolk County court to second-degree attempted murder and criminal contempt for violating a 2016 order of protection mandating that he stay away from the victim. Riverhead Town Police initially charged the 30-year-old suspect with assault and arson.
Police have said Osborn poured an accelerant onto the 33-year-old homeless woman’s body and the tent she was sleeping in the woods near the suspect’s home and ignited it at 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 17. Prosecutors said Osborne set the fire following an argument with the victim the day before.
The victim, who extinguished the flames on her legs by rolling around on the ground, suffered burns to her lower extremities, face and hands, authorities said. She was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center and later transported to Stony Brook University Hospital. Her name was not released.
The fire extended to the wooded area. Riverhead Fire Department firefighters extinguished the brush fire. Police apprehended Osborne near the scene. Judge Martin Efman ordered Osborne held at county jail without bail.
