Man Charged With Killing Grandmother

A man who had been charged with dousing his 85-year-old grandmother with alcohol and setting her on fire in an argument over money in March is now being charged with first-degree murder, three months after the woman died at a hospital, a Baltimore police spokesman said.

Tyron Markit Mason, 29, of the 2800 block of Frederick Ave., had been charged with attempted murder. Ethel Henderson died June 17 in the burn unit of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

The attack occurred about 5:20 p.m. on March 8, when police said Mason went to Henderson's home on Poplar Grove Street, demanded money and then set her on fire. A neighbor, a retired firefighter, heard her screams and rushed to extinguish the flames.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said prosecutors have indicated the charges are to be upgraded; the case was added to the department's homicide list on Tuesday.

Also, Guglielmi said police on Tuesday removed a name from the homicide list. Tiesha Sakeyra Bennett, 27, had been charged in the June stabbing death of her boyfriend, Jermaine Womack, 32. Prosecutors said earlier this month that they had dropped the charges. The woman had told police her boyfriend had been choking her when she stabbed him.

There have been 169 homicides so far this year, up from 161 at this time in 2008.