Police: Woman set husband's bed on fire with him in it

A Cape Girardeau woman set her husband’s bed on fire with him in it Wednesday night, police said.

The Cape Girardeau Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Patricia A. Easton-Biles, 52, with first-degree domestic assault Thursday.

Cape Girardeau police officers went to a residence in the 600 block of North Sprigg Street shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday to a report of a domestic assault, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by patrolman Dustin Humphrey.

When officers arrived, Biles was outside in the parking lot, screaming, “He set himself on fire,” Humphrey wrote.

Inside the residence, there was “a light amount of smoke in the air,” according to the statement.

Officers spoke with the victim, Robert Biles, 56, who said he’d been sleeping in the bedroom when his wife lit a brown paper bag on fire and threw it in the bed, Humphrey wrote.

The bed and comforter had fresh burns on them, and police found a rolled-up brown piece of paper, but it did not appear burned, Humphrey wrote.

Biles and the victim had argued before she set the mattress on fire, public-information officer Rich McCall said via email.

Biles’ bond was set at $40,000.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627

Pertinent address:

600 block of North Sprigg Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.