A Minnesota couple is being hospitalized after police say a woman set her house on fire with her husband inside then used a hammer to pound a screwdriver into her chest.
Apple Valley police told MyFoxTwinCities the Rhonda Arkley, 49, poured gasoline all over the inside of her house and threatened to kill herself before setting it on fire Thursday morning.
Officers said they arrived to the scene around 9:15 a.m. after a neighbor reported the fire and found Arkley parked outside the house in her locked car stabbing herself in the chest with a screwdriver.
Arkley then drove off, starting a chase that ended in neighboring Eagan when officers used road spikes to flatten her tires, police told the station. As they ran up to the vehicle, officers said Arkley was using a hammer to pound the screwdriver into her chest. They administered emergency first aid and took her into custody.
Arkley was taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital to be treated for self-inflicted stab wounds and burns.
Her husband, 49-year-old Stuart Arkley, who was home when the fire started escaped and ran to a neighbor’s house. He was also taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital to be treated for burns.
On November 17, Apple Valley police were called to the Arkley home to investigate the death of the Rhonda’s 22-year-old son, who was found dead in his bedroom. There were no obvious signs of trauma and the death is still under investigation awaiting the coroner’s ruling on the cause of death.
The fire also is now under investigation, MyFoxTwinCities reported.
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