By J. Shadé Quintanilla
On Sunday, Dec. 27, police finally captured a runaway fugitive who was accused of setting his wife on fire.
Clarence Durwell Dear of Pomona, 51, was placed into police custody after officers caught him boarding a bus in Pasadena. Police were searching for Dear since Christmas Day when he allegedly doused his wife in gasoline and set her on fire during a domestic dispute.
According to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Pasadena officers and sheriff deputies were able to track Dear down on a Metro bus in Pasadena on Foothill Boulevard and Halstead Street a few minutes after 10 a.m.
“Information was received that Clarence Duwell Dear had boarded a bus in the city of Altadena,” Pomona police officials said in a statement. “Pasadena police, along with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies, responded and located the bus and took suspect Dear into custody without incident.”
Dear was later turned over to Pomona police and booked for suspicion of murder
According to officials, Dear and his 41-year-old wife, Dawn Hensley, were engaged in a heated dispute that turned fatal on Christmas Day around 1:45 p.m. As their argument escalated, Dear allegedly chased his wife outside of their residence in Pomona, poured gasoline on her and set her into flames. Police believe that Hensley was possibly set ablaze with a lit cigarette.
Witnesses told police that they saw Hensley running out of her home on the 1500 block of Cordova Street engulfed in flames before falling down on the street. Neighbors rushed to help her and stayed until firefighters arrived at the scene. Hensley was treated for severe burns and rushed to the hospital, but she was unable to survive.
Dear is currently being held at the Pomona Police Department’s jail on a $1 million bail. He is scheduled to appear at the Pomona Superior Court on Tuesday, Dec. 29, for a first court hearing.
