A former Erie woman is dead, along with an Erie man, after a violent domestic assault in North Carolina.


It happened Tuesday morning, in a Charlotte home.


Police say 39-year-old Tamika McClelland's body was discovered dead, inside the home.

Her estranged boyfriend, 39-year-old Halim Stovall's burning body was also pulled from the home, he later died at the hospital.


But Charlotte, North Carolina police say Stovall started the deadly fire.


Investigators were called to the home around 4:00 a.m. Tuesday for a domestic incident, they didn't charge him, but took Stovall away from the home.


But police say he later returned, kicked in the door of the home, assaulted McClelland, then poured gasoline around the house and set it on fire.


Their 8 and 21-year-old daughters were able to escape the home safely, and run to a neighbor's home, "The girl said he put gas on the house and lit a match," said neighbor, Tashenma Kinney. "I kept hearing her yelling on the phone with 911 trying to get help. So I took the little girl to my car so she would be warm while she was still on the phone," Kinney added.


Friends here in Erie tell WICU & WSEE news that Tamika McClelland moved there about a year ago, to get away from Stovall, who was abusive.


WICU & WSEE have uncovered that Stovall has a criminal history here in Erie, including arrests for violations of protection from abuse orders, known as PFA's. On September of 2007 he was arrested for violation of a PFA order, but charges were dismissed. In December of 2008, he was arrested and eventually found guilty of violating a PFA. For that, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison.