An Anchorage woman, police suspect of killing the man she lived with by setting him on fire, was placed on suicide watch in her jail cell Sunday.
The suicide-watch forced authorities to postpone 25-year-old Gina Virgilio's arraignment until Monday afternoon.
Police say on Saturday, Virgilio admitted to setting the deadly apartment fire that took the life of her roommate, 25-year-old Michael Gonzalez. According to their Facebook pages, the two were engaged.
In charging documents, a staffer at Providence Hospital, identified as R.N Pennington told an Anchorage Police Officer Virgilio said, "I did it, I killed Michael."
In addition, Virgilio’s mother, Michelle, told Anchorage detectives that Virgilio admitted to pouring gasoline around the couch where her roommate, Michael, was sleeping early Friday morning. She then allegedly lit some paper on fire, tossed it into the apartment and ran.
Virgilio told APD detectives Gonzalez had been abusive to her, was "acting crazy,” and it was either "me or him."
Gonzalez had gone out Thursday night to celebrate his birthday and, according to Virgilio’s mother, he came home after spending the night drinking with friends.
A few hours later, firefighters found Gonzalez’s body inside as they fought the apartment fire.
Virgilio has been charged with first degree murder and arson. The blaze she allegedly set also forced a number of residents to evacuate from their East Anchorage apartment complex early Friday morning.
According to charging documents, Virgilio's parents were awarded temporary custody of her toddler. They had told authorities that Virgilio had a previous drug addiction to methamphetamine and heroin, and they were afraid their daughter’s apartment was unsafe.
