U Not Gonna Like This

Coast woman charged with dumping hot oil on husband faces murder charge

Associated Press

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. - A Hancock County woman who allegedly dumped a pot of heated cooking oil on her sleeping husband last month is now facing murder charges.

Investigators said Edna May Sanders, 45, whose maiden name is Miller, fled the couple's home with their two children after allegedly dumping a pot of hot grease on her husband, leaving him with third-degree burns on more than half of his body.

Sherman Sanders spent a week in the burn center at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. After his death Friday, county investigators intensified the search for his wife.

Authorities said the two were married only a short time.

"She has family in Texas and Louisiana and that's where we are concentrating all our efforts right now," said Kenny Hurt, the county's chief investigator.

Police believe Edna Sanders heated about two quarts of household cooking oil on the stove and allowed the grease to reach a simmer while her husband slipped into a sound sleep. Then, she poured the smoldering grease over his head, face, chest and arms.

"I've been in law enforcement 14 years and that was the worse thing I've ever seen," Hancock County Sheriff's Department investigator Ricky Fayard said after the July 28 attack. "His skin was dripping off of him."

"When we got there he was in bad shape. His entire hand, the skin came off, and it looked like a glove," Fayard said.