Salesman allegedly rapes, burns woman, 78

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas, April 2 (UPI) -- A 23-year-old man selling magazines door to door was arrested on suspicion of raping and burning a 78-year-old woman, suburban Dallas police said.

Daniel Deshawn Neal faces an aggravated sexual assault charge, a first-degree felony that carries a maximum sentence of 99 years to life behind bars, police said.

The unidentified woman was in stable condition in a Dallas hospital and was expected to recover from her burns, Grand Prairie, Texas, Detective John Brimmer told the Star-Telegram of Fort Worth, Texas.

The woman told officers a young man came to her door about 2 p.m. Monday and introduced himself as Daniel, 22, from Chicago, the newspaper said.

He told the woman he was working on a communications exercise to get into college, and she invited him into her house, where he attacked her, sexually assaulted her, doused her with rubbing alcohol and then set her on fire, police said.

Police caught the suspect after a fire department arson investigator noticed a different man selling magazines the next day. That man told police he worked with a man fitting the suspect's description the day before. The man mentioned he would be working with another crew in Fort Worth the following day.

Grand Prairie police got an arrest warrant and, working with Fort Worth police, "positively identified the suspect named in the warrant and arrested him after a brief struggle," Brimmer told the Star-Telegram.

"DNA samples will be taken to match to evidence from the sexual assault exam," Brimmer said.