A Powder Springs woman set on fire by her boyfriend last month described him to police as jealous and controlling.
Police said Morgan Yarbrough accused Rachel Brokaw of infidelity and called her numerous times while she was out with friends the night he doused her with gasoline -- that she'd purchased for him -- and set her on fire.
A Cobb County Police investigator testified Friday during a probable cause hearing in Cobb County Superior Court that Yarbrough, 25, was upset that his girlfriend was out having dinner and drinks on the night of May 10 without him.
"While they were at dinner, Mr. Yarbrough was calling and texting Ms. Brokaw constantly, wanting to know where she was," Cobb County police detective Kenneth Kromer said from the stand Friday. "According to friends and Brokaw, this was a common occurrence. He did not like her going out without him and accused her of cheating on him."
Kromer told Superior Court Judge Joan Vaughn Bloom that Yarbrough actually told Brokaw what he was going to do to her just before he started the flame, then coolly walked away when he did.
"When the flame ignited, he can be seen walking, it appeared to be very calmly, back to his car to continue pumping gas," Kromer said, describing footage from a surveillance camera that recorded part of the incident.
Brokaw, a 29-year-old Cobb County school teacher, received second- and third-degree burns from her waist to just above her nose, police said.
Yarbrough has been charged with aggravated assault with intent to murder, aggravated battery and first-degree arson, all felonies.
Bloom determined there was enough probable cause for the case to go to trial. Next, Cobb County District Attorney Patrick Head will get the investigative files to determine what evidence to use to seek an indictment.
As Kromer described Yarbrough's chilling and somewhat confusing behavior, the tall, wiry suspect looked on silently from just eight feet away.
Kromer said Brokaw's party left the restaurant on Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw to go to a friend's home, then to a nearby bar, the night of the incident.
While they were at the bar, Brokaw received several more text messages from Yarbrough.
"One of these text messages said he had run out of gas, and he was on I-75 and wanted her to come pick him up," Kromer said. "She decided to do it because she knew if she didn't, Ms. Brokaw said she knew he'd be very pissed off with her."
Kromer said she met Yarbrough and took him to get enough gas to start up his 2007 Dodge Charger.
"At that point, he demanded to know where she was and who she was with," Kromer said. "When she told him she was at Bailey's, he didn't believe her."
Yarbrough followed Brokaw back to the bar to verify her story, and talked to one of her friends who was still there, Kromer said.
They left and she followed Yarbrough to the BP gas station at 575 Barrett Parkway, where Brokaw parked her car behind his at pump No. 12 and went inside the store to pay for gas for his car. While pumping the gas, Yarbrough was berating Brokaw, Kromer said.
"She said she remembers that he did say that he was going to do what he ended up doing," Kromer said.
Brokaw told police that Yarbrough walked to her car, told her to let the window down, sprayed her with gas as she sat in her car, then lit her on fire.
The car eventually exploded, although police say someone had pushed the vehicle away from the pumps, and Yarbrough fled in his car.
Prosecutor Kevin Barger asked Kromer about the potential danger of igniting anything or anyone so close to fuel pumps.
"There's no question in your mind that the proximity to the gas pumps could've caused an explosion," Barger said.
"No, sir," Kromer responded.
But Yarbrough's attorney, Clay Thompson, asked if it were possible that his client was the one who pushed the burning car away from the gas pumps.
"Do you know whether or not Morgan Yarbrough was the one that actually pushed it back?" Thompson said.
"That I don't know," Kromer said.
"But he could've done that?" Thompson asked.
"I suppose ... when the flame ignites, he appears to be walking very calmly to his car and pumps gas for about five or six seconds," Kromer said. "Then you see him run off the screen."
Kromer also acknowledged that Brokaw told him that Yarbrough helped her take off her burning shirt before she he drove away.
Brokaw, who is staying with family in Ohio, was not available for comment Friday.
Police put out an all-points alert for Yarbrough shortly after he fled, and he turned himself in to police that afternoon.
Yarbrough remains at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bail.
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