By Caroline Flores
CORPUS CHRISTI – It all began just after 7:00 after police received a call about a family disturbance on Ransom Island Drive in Flour Bluff. When officers arrived, tirfe drove off and officers found his daughter.. with stab wounds inside the home. She was taken to the hospital where she later died. Her father was later found inside his burning car at the Walmart on SPID and Greenwood.
Due to serious burn injuries Kidane’s 57-year old father was flown to the US Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center in San Antonio. He is in critical but stable condition. Six News was able to find a woman who got video on her cell phone of Mulugeta Tirfe’s car going up in flames.
“It was like a horror movie! Like he came out and he was all in flames and screaming for help,” said Nancy Ramirez the woman who got the cell phone video.
But what led up to the fire, witnesses on Ransom Island Drive say, is just as much of a horror story.
“We heard screaming and fighting and like slamming and stuff. And they’re on the phone saying that she’s dead. Like we need the cops here now. And they were freaking out,” said Nastassia Abshire who was on Ransom Island Dr. the night of the murder.
Police believe that is when Mulugeta Tirfe stabbed his daughter to death. Witnesses say he drove away before police arrived. What happened next, Ramirez says is something she will never forget.
“It sounded like intentionally. Like he had planned it. Like he did it himself. Because there is no way! I mean the vehicle was just parked there for a while and all we heard was a pop sound and we were like where’s that coming from,” said Ramirez.
A second later she says she learned where, Tirfe’s car. She says the car was covered in flames. Then, she saw Tirfe.
“I mean he was just completely in flames. He didn’t… I mean… On fire and then finally he got out and then started screaming for help,” said Ramirez.
At that time she called police. Officers showed up, then realized he was the man they were looking for. Investigators say Tirfe did intentionally set his car on fire in attempts to kill himself.
Tirfe has not been charged with his daughter’s murder, as police have not been able to question him yet.
Video: 57-Year Old Father Stabs Daughter, Burns Self (KRIS TV)
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