Gary Hilfiker flicked his cigarette lighter, reached down and held it to the left foot of his girlfriend's body.
"He stated it didn't take off quite as fast as he thought it would," Salt Lake arson investigator Jeffrey Long testified Tuesday.Hilfiker, 34, stayed for a moment until the fire grew and then left. He returned later to see flames shooting from the front door of 434 E. Bryan Ave., and pounded on the neighbor's door, screaming: "Marsha's house is on fire! Marsha's house is on fire!"
The testimony came from witnesses Tuesday during a preliminary hearing for Hilfiker, who is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, in the death April 24 of Marsha Haverty, 38.
But an assistant medical examiner testified that Haverty was killed before the fire began. Dr. Maureen Frikke said the woman had been stabbed 10 times - including eight times to the face and head. She also was stabbed in the heart and in the back after she was dead.
Frikke told 3rd Circuit Judge Sheila McCleve that Haverty bled to death from the wounds to her head, but not immediately. "My opinion is she could have lived a half-hour, an hour or perhaps longer," Frikke said.
Hilfaker was ordered to stand trial in district court on the murder charge, as well as a charge of aggravated arson, also a first-degree felony. He will be arraigned before Judge Kenneth Rigtrup on June 29.
Long said Haverty was found lying on her back in the middle of the living room. A kerosene-oil lamp had been placed between her legs, and various papers surrounded her body.
"It looked like (the papers) had been placed around the body itself, and on the top of the head," he said. Tests indicated that an accelerant such as kerosene diesel fuel or charcoal lighter fluid had been spread over her body, which was wrapped in an afghan.
Hilfiker originally denied knowing anything about the fire. But after several interviews with police, he changed his story and said, "I want to get it off my chest and tell the truth," Long testified.
Hilfiker was taken to an interview room, where he told detectives he stabbed Haverty and set her ablaze. Long also said tests indicated that the pants and sneakers Hilfiker was wearing that night contained traces of diesel fuel or charcoal lighter fluid.