Victim Rachel Price says she is still healing after police say her roommate set her on fire inside their apartment.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — A South Florida woman says she survived a gasoline attack inside her Hollywood apartment after an argument with her roommate and former girlfriend ended in flames, serious burns and an attempted murder case in Broward County court.

Rachel Price has said the March incident left her with second- and third-degree burns to her face, neck and other parts of her body. Police arrested Kymesha Tarpley, 48, after officers responded to an apartment fire and later described conflicting accounts of how the flames began. Prosecutors have since moved the case beyond the first arrest counts, adding an attempted second-degree murder charge with a weapon, along with arson counts.

Price said the fight began as a household argument, then became something far more violent after Tarpley left the room and returned with gasoline. Price told local reporters that Tarpley tossed the fuel on her and then threw a lighter. “She watched me burn,” Price said. She said she screamed as flames spread across her body and hair. In another interview, Price said she never thought Tarpley would do “something so vile and demonic.” Police said the two women had lived together and had also been in a past relationship.

The police account started with an emergency call to an apartment building in Hollywood, a Broward County city about 20 miles north of Miami. A probable cause affidavit said officers were sent to the building at about 10:15 p.m. after a report of an apartment on fire. Tarpley met an officer at the scene and gave her version first, according to the affidavit. She said Price had become upset because Tarpley’s small dog was annoying her in the living room. The two argued, Tarpley said, and struggled near a balcony door. She told police the door hit a gasoline container, knocked it over and spilled fuel on the floor.

Tarpley told investigators Price had a lit cigarette and jumped back during the struggle, dropping the cigarette and igniting the gasoline. That account placed the start of the fire on an accident. Price gave a different account to police and reporters. She told an officer, “She tossed gasoline on me,” according to the affidavit. Price later said Tarpley returned with a gas canister after the argument and used it against her. Officials have not said why gasoline was inside or near the apartment, and the records made public so far do not explain where the container came from before the fire.

The fire did not stay a private dispute for long. A fire marshal who lived below the women heard Price screaming, smelled smoke and ran upstairs with a fire extinguisher, local reports said. Price has credited that neighbor with helping save her life. “I hope to run into him soon and thank him for saving my life,” she said. Price said the burns changed simple parts of her daily life. She said eating and talking on the phone became painful. She also said she could have lost her sight if she had not closed her eyes or lowered her head when the flames started.

Price was taken to a hospital after the fire and intubated, according to the affidavit. Local reports said she remained hospitalized for nearly a month. She said her face had second- and third-degree burns and that pain remained part of each day after she left the hospital. “I don’t feel like myself,” Price said. A fundraiser was later created for her recovery and housing needs. Price said she was trying to heal and find a new place to live after the attack made returning to the old apartment impossible for her.

The case moved through more than one charging stage. Early reports said Tarpley first faced arson and aggravated battery counts after the confrontation near an apartment building along Emerald Pointe Drive. Police and prosecutors later added attempted murder after Price went to the Hollywood Police Department to finish pressing charges. Court records listed attempted second-degree murder with a weapon, first-degree arson and second-degree arson. Tarpley has pleaded not guilty. Local reports said she was being held at the Paul Rein Detention Facility without bond after the upgraded charges.

The charges mark the case as both a violent assault investigation and a fire case. First-degree arson covers fires involving dwellings or buildings where people are present. Second-degree arson applies to other covered structures. The attempted murder count raises the stakes because prosecutors will have to address what they say Tarpley intended when the gasoline and flame were used. The defense has not publicly presented a full account beyond the version Tarpley gave police at the scene, where she blamed the ignition on a cigarette and a spill.

Hollywood police have not released every piece of evidence in the case. The public record described the competing statements, the reported argument about the dog, the gasoline, the lighter and Price’s injuries. It did not settle every open question, including how long the argument lasted, whether anyone else saw the first moments of the fire or whether investigators recovered physical evidence tying the gas canister to one account over the other. Those questions could become central if the case moves toward trial.

Price’s public comments have focused on survival rather than revenge. She said she was grateful to be alive and thankful each day, even as she remained in pain. Asked what she wanted for Tarpley, Price said she hoped her former roommate would get help. The statement came as she described trying to rebuild after a sudden attack inside a home she once shared with the person now accused of trying to kill her.

For now, the next listed court milestone is a calendar call scheduled for June 18 in Broward County. Tarpley remains presumed innocent unless convicted, and the case now turns on the police affidavit, burn evidence, witness accounts and the two sharply different stories about how the fire began.

Author note: Last updated May 7, 2026.