I suffered horror burns & had to give up my son when stranger set fire to me in street…a cruel twist was still to come

Kari Rouse, a single mother, had no idea that she was going to go through a terrible experience that would alter her life forever when she went shopping for a few necessities.

Houston Ketter, 41, ran up behind her minutes after she left home, dousing her in lighter fluid and setting her on fire.

The mother of one was burned 30% of her body when it caught fire.

Kari, 39, of New York, US, spent 45 days in an induced coma with no expectation of survival.

She fought hard to heal, though, and even testified against her assailant during his trial because she was determined to live.

Ketter was sentenced to 50 years in prison for attempted murder in October 2023.

Kari is now permanently disfigured and requires a tracheotomy to breathe.

As if that weren’t enough, doctors believe that benzine, a substance present in the lighter fluid that was used to set her on fire, is the reason behind her cancer.

She is now courageously speaking out in support of burn survivors.

“That day, the devil tried to kill me,” Kari says. However, he was unsuccessful.

Even though it was the most agonizing and horrible thing I have ever gone through, I made it through.

I want other people to believe that they can also start over.

In her neighborhood, Kari was aware of Ketter as a bad boy.

His name was JD, and he had a reputation for being rude and violent.

“I only knew him in passing,” she says.

I once saw him beat up a man outside the neighborhood corner store, and I stayed away from him because I had heard he was also violent with his girlfriends.

Robbed food stamps

She gave birth to her two-year-old son, Karmik, in December 2021.

She was a single mother who relied on government food assistance to help her make ends meet.

She saw Ketter across the street one day in October 2022 as she was making her way back from the stores after getting her stamps.

She clarifies: He asked me if I had any money as he crossed over.

When he persisted after I had told him no, I said that I just had my food stamp card.

I gave him the card, and he gave me 100.

It must have contained 200, enough to last me several weeks.

Kari was too afraid to object because of his combative demeanor.

She got a new card a few weeks later, in November, but when she tried to get a new pin, she discovered that there were still thirty on the previous balance, which was instantly transferred to the new one.

She went to the stores to grab some supplies, hoping Houston wouldn’t notice.

However, she could hear a car engine revving behind her on the way.

She recalls: I recognized his white Dodge Charger and realized it was Houston.

Shortly after, he parked next to me, took hold of my arm, and pulled me through the parking lot.

He didn’t care and kept flooring the car despite my attempts to explain that I was unaware there was money left on the card. I was having trouble staying upright.

Ketter released his hold after a short while, and Kari ran home.

Flaming attack

However, a few days later, on November 13, 2022, Kari heard someone racing behind her as she was making her way to the stores.

She claims: I felt a splash of liquid hit my back, and then I suddenly burst into flames.

My limbs, head, and back were burning.

I halted, rolled, and dropped, but to no avail.

Everyone watched in disbelief as Kari fled to onlookers seeking assistance.

Fortunately, an officer jumped into action as a police car passed.

He took a fire extinguisher out of the boot to try to extinguish the flames, but it didn’t work, so he pulled out a chemical blanket and used it to put out the fire.

Kari was airlifted to the burns unit at Upstate University Hospital after an ambulance came and blue-lighted her to a local hospital.

Her induced coma ended two and a half months later.

She claims that I was connected to several machines and that police officers were watching the door.

I was unable to talk since I had a tube down my neck.

On that day, a nurse described how she was not expected to live after suffering third-degree burns to 30% of her body.

She had already had numerous skin grafts performed using cadaver skin.

Her mother came to check on Karmik two days later and made sure she was secure with foster parents.

Vital statement

She made a statement to the police and had her tracheotomy removed the next week.

The police informed me that Houston was on the run and had been spotted chuckling before he left the area, she claims.

I was afraid he would kill me.

Every day for the following month, Kari had her skin scrubbed.

Additionally, Karmik had emergency tracheotomy surgery on her first birthday, two days after Christmas, since she was having trouble breathing following a skin graft operation.

She was unable to talk again after that.

She spent two months in the NICU before being moved to a rehabilitation facility.

She claims that after receiving physiotherapy to help her walk again, she started to get better gradually.

Kari eventually managed to walk alone to the restroom.

She was astonished to see her image in the mirror for the first time.

“I was unrecognizable,” she says.

I had lost all of my gorgeous strawberry blond hair.

Rather, my head was covered in areas of baldness.

My surgeon described how my hair follicles were destroyed by the fire. that it would never regrow.

‘I faced him down’

Kari eventually recovered enough to visit her son, and she now spends twice a week with him at the children’s center.

Then, four months after the attack, in March 2023, Ketter was apprehended and taken into custody.

To regain her ability to talk, Kari had T-tube trach surgery three months later, which involves inserting a silicone tube into her neck.

She testified in front of Ketter at his trial in October of last year while sporting a brown wig.

He was sentenced to 50 years in prison after being found guilty of attempted murder.

Kari states: “I faced him down when I attended his sentencing.”

I wanted to speak up for any women who have experienced violence after reading my impact statement.

I needed Houston to understand that he wouldn’t take away my future because I was determined not to be viewed as just another statistic.

In April this year, Kari received more devastating news.

It was determined that the benzine in the lighter fluid that Ketter used to ignite her was the cause of her myeloid leukemia diagnosis.

Fortunately, her prognosis appears to be favorable after seven months of treatment.

“Hopefully, I’ll be well enough to have Karmik back living with me early next year,” she says.

I m determined to watch him grow, start school and become the beautiful young man he s turning into.

He s such a happy soul and my light in all this darkness.

She is currently collecting money to aid in her recuperation.

Donations can be made here:www.gofundme.com/f/attempted-murder-fire-survivor-now-diagnosed-with-leukemia.

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