California man arrested a day after girlfriend set on fire

• By Lisa Fernandez and Monte Francis, NBCBayArea.com

  

  San Francisco Police Department

  Dexter Oliver, 22, is suspected of attempted murder of a San Francisco woman.

  A day after his girlfriend was set on fire in San Francisco, police and the U.S. Marshal's Service Task Force arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with the fiery attack.

  Without giving away too much detail, San Francisco police said they "received information" about Dexter Oliver's whereabouts, and arrested him at a hotel in Oakland. He surrendered without incident, police said. He was taken to San Francisco and was booked on charged of attempted murder and arson, police said.

  Police say that on Sunday, Oliver allegedly threw flammable liquid on his 25-year-old girlfriend - Starr Lamare - and set her on fire, sending her to the hospital with severe burns.

  
  

  "She said he had to get out and they were over," Lamare's sister, Precious Craig told NBC Bay Area on Sunday night. "And she left the laundromat and ten minutes later, she was burned."

  Family members said that Lamare and Oliver had been dating for six months and had a rocky relationship. Relatives also said that the couple was returning from the laundromat down the street, when Lamare told Oliver she wanted to break it up. Oliver allegedly returned home to get some gasoline, relatives and police said.

  Officers were called about noon to Hollister Avenue between Jennings Street and Ingalls Street near the Bayview district on reports of a woman screaming. When they arrived, they found that she had been severely burned.

  Craig told NBC Bay Area that when she visited her sister in the hospital, her face and chest were so burned that she barely recognized her.

  
  

  "They argue all the time," Craig said. "Couples argue all the time, but I didn’t know it was going to go this far."