Exotic dancer set on fire outside LA nightclub, in critical condition

[Liberal_in_LA]

Exotic dancer set afire in Tarzana; 2 attackers sought (UPDATED)

8:17 AM, February 5, 2009

UPDATED at 8:40 a.m.: LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore just held a news conference and said the dancer at a Tarzana nightclub who was doused with flammable liquid and set on fire knew her attackers and that she suffered burns over 60% of her body. Police said she is 27 years old and has two young children.

"This was a terrible attack," Moore said, adding that there were "a number of witnesses" to the incident.

"The suspects had been identified by witnesses’ accounts -- by people that were at the tavern here," said Moore, standing outside the Babes & Beer nightclub on Oxnard Street. "At this point, when we find them, they will be arrested for this terrible crime. Given the condition of this victim they may be responsible for ultimately her murder."

The suspects were identified as Rianne Celine Therialt-Odom and Nathaniel Marquis Petrillo, 22. They allegedly doused the dancer with an accelerant, possibly gasoline, and fled in a gold, four-door sedan, Moore said. Police believe Therialt-Odom was known to people at the club and may have previously worked there.

The dancer was counting tips around 1:30 a.m. before she walked outside the nightclub to talk with Therialt-Odom and Petrillo, officials said. When she was attacked, she ran back inside, where people ripped down drapes to try to snuff out the flames.

"She was in flames and in distress," said LAPD spokesman Lt. John Romero.

The suspects:



http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/02/exotic-dancer-b.html

[Taverner]

1. Christfuck that's fucked up

Hope she gets better

[closeupready]

2. If they are guilty, put them away forever.

n/t

[DesertFlower]

3. what kind of sick

people do things like this?

[arcadian]

4. I always wonder about crimes like this where there are multiple assailants.

Like who talked who into it and how do you talk somebody into helping you set another person on fire? Fucked up.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

5. In This Situation It's Likely That The Psycho Woman Had A Grudge Against The Dancer And Convinced

her psycho boyfriend to go along with it.

[fizzgig]

6. or the boyfriend got her to go along with it

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

9. Far Less Likely.

[superduperfarleft]

10. On what do you base that assumption? n/t

[lildreamer316]

11. Honestly, he's

more than likely right...as an exotic dancer,I and my fellow dancers are more often physically assaulted by women customers /wives/girlfriends of customers than we are male customers. I personally have been hit and had things thrown at me a few times in my 14 year career. Of course statistics may not bear me out; but anecdotally that has been my, and other's experience.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. That It Was Her Who Was Known In The Bar And May Have Worked There,

as well as the fact that an already hateful and bitter woman is far more likely to convince a non involved but psychotic man to take part, than the reverse situation.

It's likely she had some sort of resentment towards the woman and wanted revenge, and bitched about it all to her boyfriend and said what she wanted to do, and he replied with something along the lines of "yeah we'll teach that bitch a lesson" or whatever. Just seems far more likely than the reverse situation.

[lildreamer316]

7. !!Thoughts and prayers for my sister in the biz.!!!

I can't believe it.

However, at any of my clubs, I NEVER walk out without a bouncer. Would like more info about this later.

[sdfernando]

8. So fucked up!!!

Sometimes I really think "an eye for an eye" is the proper punishment. Jail time is nothing compared to what this poor soul will have to endure the rest of her life if she survives.

The human race is rapidly devolving!

[kestrel91316]

13. This is less than 1/2 mile from my home. It's not a bad neighborhood

except for that damned strip club down on Oxnard. They need to shut that place down.

[RamboLiberal]

14. Hope they catch the sickos who did this

What a totally horrendous act! She was dancing more to support her kids cause she lost her job.



A single mother who returned to exotic dancing full time after losing her job as a bill collector was doused with gasoline and set on fire outside a bikini bar early Thursday.

The dancer was in critical condition late Thursday at the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, with burns over 40 percent of her body.

Police did not release the woman's name, but a friend of 14 years identified her as Roberta Abdue Dos Santos Busby of Simi Valley. Until recent months, the Brazilian-born single mother had been working for a bill-collection agency and dancing part-time under the stage name Mia to help make ends meet.

"But when she was laid off, she needed the income and had no choice but to start working at the club more regularly," said the friend, who asked not to be named. "Then she took some time and wasn't dancing for a while.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_11634639

[mackerel]

15. Any update on her condition? Any update into the reason for

the attack?

[mackerel]

16. Funds have been set-up to assist her.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/02/exotic-dancer-1.html

[RamboLiberal]

17. They caught the two who did this to her

Two people have been arrested for allegedly dousing an exotic dancer with a flammable liquid and setting her on fire outside a Los Angeles club.

Police say Rianne Theriault-Odom and Nathaniel Petrillo were arrested Monday at a hotel in the San Fernando Valley in a joint operation between police and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Deputy Chief Charlie Beck says the dancer, Roberta Busby, remains in critical condition at Grossman Burn Center after being attacked Thursday outside the Babes & Beer club in the Tarzana area of Los Angeles.

The hospital's director of burn services says Busby underwent the first of several skin grafts and will have another this week, provided she remains stable.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/09/state/n185843S40.DTL&tsp=1

I hope they lock these 2 cretins away for life!