Woman Dies After Roommate Pours Hot Oil on Her: Police

A woman has died four weeks after her roommate poured hot cooking oil over her at a Missouri assisted living center, according to police.

Police said officers found 63-year-old Doren Davis severely burned inside the Smiley Manor assisted living center at 5415 Thekla Avenue in St. Louis on March 7.

According to CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliate KMOV, police said Davis' roommate had poured hot cooking oil on her.

Investigators told the network the incident happened after the pair were embroiled in some type of dispute.

The 65-year-old woman was arrested and was held at the Missouri Department of Corrections, KMOV reported.

Davis had been taken to a nearby hospital in order to be treated, but she died from her injuries on Sunday.

According to Smiley Manor's website, the company is a family business that has operated in St. Louis for more than 30 years.

The assisted living center accepts men, women and veterans and states it offers common spaces for its residents to communicate with one another.

Newsweek has contacted the St. Louis Police Department and Smiley Manor for comment.

According to Fox2 Now, in 2021, St. Louis experienced a drop in homicides. The city recorded 195 homicides in 2021, a 25 percent drop from a near-record 262 in 2020.

However, the rate in 2021 continued a trend of higher homicide numbers over the past 10 years as police had reported 113 in 2012.

While 2021's homicide rate—at 65 percent—was down from 87 percent per 100,000 residents in 2020, it was still one of the five worst in the past 50 years.

Newsweek has previously reported on cases where people have had hot oil poured over them in brutal attacks.

In 2021, a Tennessee Wendy's manager was arrested after hot oil was poured over a customer who complained his food was cold.

Demarrus Pritchett, 23, got into a verbal confrontation with a customer at the Huntingdon drive-thru, according to WBBJ7 News.

Surveillance footage allegedly showed Pritchett as he moved into the kitchen where he picked up a pan of hot oil.

He is then alleged to have returned to the customer at the drive-thru and poured the hot oil over him through the window.

WBBJ7 News reported the customer suffered extensive burns to his left side and arm. He was treated for his injuries at the Baptist Memorial Hospital.

The network said Pritchett admitted to having thrown the hot oil and later claimed to have been harassed by the customer.

Pritchett was later charged with aggravated assault and was later released on bond.

But the customer's mother said he was not in a good condition and said she hoped "justice is served."