--- title: Pomona Police Names Clarence Duwell Dear Suspect in Burning description: 51-year-old man named as suspect in murder investigation canonical: https://time.com/4161581/pomona-woman-burned-clarence-duwell-dear/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-26T15:33:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:38:25.839Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Pomona Police Names Clarence Duwell Dear Suspect in Burning og:description: 51-year-old man named as suspect in murder investigation og:url: https://time.com/4161581/pomona-woman-burned-clarence-duwell-dear/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt112597787a6febc1/698876decf40a848a1c413d5/clarence-duwell-dear.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Clarence-Duwell-Dear- og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pomona Police Names Clarence Duwell Dear Suspect in Burning twitter:description: 51-year-old man named as suspect in murder investigation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt112597787a6febc1/698876decf40a848a1c413d5/clarence-duwell-dear.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Woman Dies in California After Being Doused in Gas, Set Aflame by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Dec 26, 2015 3:33 PM CUT  Clarence Duwell Dear is shown in a photo provided by the Pomona Police Dept. Pomona Police Dept. Clarence Duwell Dear is shown in a photo provided by the Pomona Police Dept. Pomona Police Dept.Pomona Police Dept./NBC by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Dec 26, 2015 3:33 PM CUT Police on Saturday were hunting an “[extremely dangerous](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pomona-police-clarence-duwell-dear-suspected-setting-woman-ablaze-n486096?cid=par-time%5F20151226 "undefined")” man suspected of killing a California woman by setting her ablaze. The Pomona Police Department said it had launched a murder investigation into the Christmas Day crime and named 51-year-old Clarence Duwell Dear as a suspect. Officers were called to a residence in Pomona shortly before 2 p.m. local time on Friday following reports that a woman had been set on fire, according to a statement from police. It said neighbors “who saw the victim run from the residence engulfed in flames” had tried to administer assistance as she collapsed in the street until… [Read more from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pomona-police-clarence-duwell-dear-suspected-setting-woman-ablaze-n486096?cid=par-time%5F20151226 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4161581/pomona-woman-burned-clarence-duwell-dear/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4161581/pomona-woman-burned-clarence-duwell-dear/"},"headline":"Woman Dies in California After Being Doused in Gas, Set Aflame","datePublished":"2015-12-26T15:33:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:38:25.839Z","description":"51-year-old man named as suspect in murder investigation","url":"https://time.com/4161581/pomona-woman-burned-clarence-duwell-dear/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt112597787a6febc1/698876decf40a848a1c413d5/clarence-duwell-dear.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt112597787a6febc1/698876decf40a848a1c413d5/clarence-duwell-dear.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Clarence-Duwell-Dear-","caption":"Clarence Duwell Dear is shown in a photo provided by the Pomona Police Dept. Pomona Police Dept.","creditText":"Pomona Police Dept./NBC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4161581/pomona-woman-burned-clarence-duwell-dear/","name":"Woman Dies in California After Being Doused in Gas, Set Aflame"}}]}] ```