BURTCHVILLE, Mich. -- The St. Clair County Sheriff said a woman who was set on fire has no one to blame but herself.Authorities have charged Shannon Lee Rhodes with filing a false police report after she claimed an unknown man set her on fire.
But the prosecution said Rhodes injured herself.
"Our office filed charges today (Wednesday) against Shannon Lee Rhodes for the felony offense of false report of a felony," said St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling. "We believe the injuries were self-inflicted."
Rhodes, of Burtchville Township, was arrested Tuesday and arraigned Wednesday afternoon.
Rhodes, 39, is going through a divorce and investigators believe martial problems are behind the incident. Her husband is on a tether and out on bond while facing charges in a domestic situation involving the couple.
"We believe there are some domestic issues going on between her and her husband," Wendling said. "We also felt there were some other issues that may have caused her to believe she would not be burned so badly and this was an incident that got out of hand."
The incident happened three months ago. Rhodes' 12-year-old son was home at the time and called 9-1-1.
"My mom just caught on fire!," the boy can be heard saying during the emergency call.
When the 911 operator asked "What's on fire?", the boy replied, "My mom."
After catching fire, Rhodes ran to the shower to put out flames on her chest, police said.
Rhodes later told police the incident happened when an unknown man knocked on her front door, doused her in a flammable liquid and lit her on fire.
Sheriff Tim Donnellon said the charges against Rhodes should put any community fears to rest.
"There isn't some mad man running around out there setting civilians on fire," Donnellon said. "At the conclusion of the interview with Rhodes (Tuesday), she was placed into custody."
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