Man sets ex-girlfriend on fire at her restaurant job, killing her, FL cops say
A man walked into his ex-girlfriend’s work at Golden Corral, poured gasoline on her and lit her on fire as she tried to run away, Florida prosecutors said.
Carol Demmons, 56, sustained burns to more than 70% of her body and spent a month in a hospital before dying from her injuries, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
Her former boyfriend, 67-year-old Darryl Whipple, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2016 killing and has now been sentenced to life in prison, prosecutors announced April 1.
The sentence marks the conclusion of a nearly nine-year legal process, as Whipple was found incompetent to stand trial for about six years, Duval County records show.
“In view of Mr. Whipple’s serious mental illness, I think it was a fair and reasonable way to resolve the case,” public defender Al Chipperfield told McClatchy News in an email of his client’s plea.
Demmons went to her job at a Golden Corral restaurant on Oct. 12, 2016, and was working behind the dessert counter when her ex-boyfriend showed up, officers wrote in an arrest report.
Whipple is accused of pouring gasoline over Demmons’ head and taking out a lighter as she tried to get away from him. He lit her on fire, triggering the fire suppression system in the restaurant, then walked out and sat on a curb to await officers’ arrival, police said.
Demmons was hospitalized for nearly a month until she died Nov. 8, 2016, from her injuries, according to police.
In August 2016, two months before she was lit on fire, Demmons filled out a domestic violence assessment in which she was asked whether she believed her partner would intentionally kill her. She answered yes.
During the August incident, Whipple was accused of pushing Demmons on their bed during an argument and attacking her with a knife. He bit her as she struggled to get away from him, until family pulled him off her, Jacksonville police wrote in an arrest warrant.
Records show a warrant for Whipple’s arrest was issued, but it appears he wasn’t taken into custody until police found him sitting on the curb outside Golden Corral in October as Demmons burned inside.
This story was originally published April 3, 2025 at 8:38 AM with the headline "Man sets ex-girlfriend on fire at her restaurant job, killing her, FL cops say."