First degree Assault charges were filed on an Anchorage couple on Wednesday for lighting a man on fire inside their home earlier this year.

18-year-old Elshandrea Durfee and 19-year-old Trevor Perry were charged with Assault I for the incident that took place on February 10th of this year. It was then that police say that Durfee threw lighter fluid on 18-year-old Joseph Sledge as he slept in Perry’s room. They later lit him on fire.

Perry had a different story when interviewed by police however. Perry told the officer that Sledge arrived at their apartment smelling of lighter fluid, and wanting a place to sleep. Perry said that he left the apartment and came back later and Sledge was already burned and the police were there investigating the incident.

Later in the week, police interviewed one of the suspect’s grandmother, who lived nearby. It was her that discovered Sledge on fire and, using a fishbowl, put the fire out. But, by the time she had found him, he had already suffered severe burns to his lower extremities. It was then that the grandmother turned over text messages to the police that contained messages that Perry planned on setting fire to Sledge.

Because of the severity of his injuries, Sledge spent several weeks in the hospital. When police interviewed him later in February, he told officers that he awoke to Durfee throwing liquid on him. He told the police that Perry and Durfee told him it was water, but the liquid didn’t smell like water, it smelled of gas, he said. He then stated that he moved to the living room and to a chair there and fell back asleep. A short time later, he awoke to flames, he was on fire. He said in the interview that he screamed for help but Perry and Durfee didn’t help him.

When asked why they set him on fire, Sledge stated, because Perry was crazy.

It was one of Perry’s friends that provided the motive for the case according to the charges. They told police that Perry set Sledge on fire because Sledge passed out on his bed and had taken Perry’s car without asking the day before.

Both Perry and Durfee appeared in court for arraignment on Thursday afternoon. As of that time, both remained in custody.