Man Says Girlfriend Accused Of Setting Him On Fire, Throwing Urine On Him Is Innocent

PENN HILLS (KDKA) – A woman is facing charges for setting her boyfriend on fire then putting the flames out with a bucket of urine, but her boyfriend claims the fire was actually his fault and his girlfriend is innocent.

Thirty-one-year-old Grady Spencer is in the Mercy burn unit with second-degree burns on the lower part of his body, including his legs and feet.

Police arrested his girlfriend, Leigh Ann Sepelyak, Saturday night. She's charged with setting him on fire and pouring urine on him to put it out. He says none of that is true.

Spencer says he was drunk and messing with a weed whacker in the basement of the Penn Hills home where the couple lives. He says he accidentally dropped a cigarette, and it hit the gas from the weed whacker. That's how the fire that burned him ignited.

"Basically, I was intoxicated, kinda passing out," Spencer told KDKA's Marty Griffin over the phone. "[If it] hadn't been for [Sepelyak] dumping what she dumped on me, it would have been a lot worse."

Spencer says he had urinated in a gallon milk jug in the basement, and Sepelyak poured that on him to put out the fire.

How did the stories get mixed up? Spencer says the suspect's brother told police that's how it went down, and police also spoke with Spencer the night of the incident.

KDKA's Marty Griffin: "So [Sepelyak] had nothing to do with this?"
Spencer: "No."
Griffin: "And have you told police that?"
Spencer: "I told them the night… Like, I was in shock and completely drunk the night they questioned me. And I had told them I was working on something. I was in so much pain. They pretty much didn't believe what I said and left."

Sources close to the case are convinced he's lying to protect her. He says he's "absolutely not" lying for her, and she's innocent.

"Our relationship's great," Spencer said. "She's a very good person. She would never hurt a bug."

The Penn Hills police investigated the case and filed attempted homicide and reckless endangerment charges against Sepelyak. She is now out on bond.

The police chief has stated it will be up to a judge to determine what actually happened.

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