Man Burnt Woman To Death, Sentenced to Life in Prison

Burned Woman

A man was sentenced on Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the death of a severely burned 29-year-old woman who was found wailing along a rural eastern Ohio road.

The judge followed the recommendation of the jury in sentencing LaFonse Dixon Jr., 34, of Canton. He had been eligible for the death penalty, but the jury recommended that he be spared after hearing evidence of his troubled upbringing.

Two women pleaded guilty in the case to avoid the death penalty and testified against Dixon. They said the trio took Celeste Fronsman, of Canton, to rural Muskingum County, where she was set on fire and abandoned in August 2012. A driver found the woman on the road, bleeding and with a strap around her neck. She died two days later.

Prosecutors said the attack was retaliation stemming from the belief that Fronsman tipped police to a drug stash house.