Inset: Robert Head (Levy County Jail). Background: Home where Head set his wife on fire (WCJB)
An argument over the air conditioning setting allegedly spurned a husband to use a cooking pot to douse his wife in gasoline and then light her on fire, causing her gruesome death at their Florida home.
Robert Head, 58, is facing charges of first-degree murder and arson. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, Williston Fire Rescue responded around 7:48 p.m. on Thursday to a report of a structure fire. When they arrived the home was fully engulfed in flames and they were alerted that a woman was still inside. Crews rushed inside to find a woman deceased. Officers also were told that Head was responsible for the murder.
Cops found Head hiding in a dog kennel holding a machete saying he was going to harm himself. They took him into custody. The victim’s daughter told deputies that she was in the home when Head allegedly set her mother on fire. She reportedly described her relationship with Head as fraught and said he and her mother often argued. She said when she came home from work on Thursday the air conditioning was on low and it was hot, the affidavit said.
The daughter said Head and her mother often argued about the temperature of the home. A verbal confrontation ensued and Head allegedly called his wife names like b—- and she retorted by calling him a “broke b—-,” the affidavit said. Head walked outside “smiling” and returned with a cooking pot full of gasoline, according to the affidavit. He allegedly said, “If we going out we going out together, I told you I ain’t never leaving you.” That’s when cops say he took the pot and emptied it on his wife’s body and feet.
According to cops, the daughter told them Head lit a piece of paper and threw it on his wife causing an “explosive reaction.” The daughter also was burned and she ran out of the house.
Post Miranda, the defendant allegedly admitted to setting his wife on fire. Head said he had been upset because his wife was defending her daughter during arguments ever since she moved in with them about two years ago. After the two argued with him over the A/C, he allegedly said he went outside and filled the pot with the gas and then came back inside and set his wife ablaze.
He said he had planned to take his own life before officers showed up.
“When asked the defendant stated that he deserved to die for taking the life of the victim,” the affidavit said.
Gainesville ABC affiliate WCJB identified the victim as Genevether Head.
“She was very blunt and she was very caring,” her nephew Jamell Bradshaw told the outlet. “It was very rare that she would say no to you if you came to ask her for something, she was very supportive.”
Bradshaw said the victim’s daughter is recovering from her injuries and the shock of losing her mother.
“It’s a process for all of us,” said Bradshaw. “That was her mom, her best friend and her everything. Her world was kind of gone.”
Head is being held at the Levy County Jail on no bond.
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