The maniac who doused an elderly woman with gasoline in a Brooklyn elevator and burned her alive did it because he believed she owed him money, police said.
Brooklyn handyman Jerome Isaac was still reeking of gas when he surrendered to police, cops said.
Isaac, 47, was charged with killing Delores Gillespie, 73, who had hired him to help clear clutter in her Prospect Heights apartment but axed him for stealing, cops and relatives said.
In August, Isaac put a typed invoice on Gillespie's door demanding more than $300 in payment for work he said he'd done for her, relatives said.
She had a bunch of locks on the door," said relative Dorinda Thomas, 56. "She was desperately scared of him."
All the locks in the world couldn't save her.
Isaac was caught on video wearing an exterminator's mask, gloves and backpack canister, waiting for the elevator to open in Gillespie's Underhill Ave. apartment building as she returned from the grocery store Saturday afternoon.
He calmly sprayed her head-to-toe in gasoline as the old lady tried to shield her face. Then he used a long barbecue lighter to set her aflame.
He tossed in a firebomb and sprayed more gasoline on her as she died screaming.
It was one of the most appalling crimes in recent city history. Veteran cops said they'd never seen anything like it.
After Isaac left the building, cops said he tried to burn down his brother's apartment on nearby Lincoln Place.
Isaac had stayed with his brother until getting kicked out, police sources said. He sprayed his brother's door with accelerant and left two firebombs behind. Nobody was hurt.
Isaac turned himself in at the NYPD's Transit District 32 on Carroll St. in Crown Heights about 12:30 a.m.
He indicated that he was responsible for setting a fire - he didn't say anything about a homicide," said Paul Browne, the NYPD's top spokesman.
Since then, he has made statements implicating himself in the attack."
He claimed Gillespie owed him a total of $2,000 for maintenance work, a police source said.
Helping hand of horror
Relatives said Gillespie, a postal worker, had paid Isaac to help clear out her apartment.
She trusted him," said Rickey Causey, 52, Gillespie's nephew, who lived with the victim.
She gave him a key to go in and out of the apartment."
Gillespie's relatives claim Isaac began stealing expensive items, including cookware and a DVD player. She changed the locks and stopped dealing with Isaac earlier this year.
But he scared her.
She knew that something was going to happen to her in that building," Thomas said. "She knew this, and everyone around here knew this."
Still, neighbors who knew the accused madman were shocked by the fiendish attack.
He didn't seem crazy," said neighbor Ramon Vargas, 65.
He spoke to me about the Bible. He never spoke about violence or problems he was having. I'm shocked. This is not something I thought he'd do."
Gillespie's relatives were reeling.
She was the mother of the community," said her son Maurice Gillespie, 37, who lived with her. "She helped feed the poor. She was a good person.
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