Kenneth Rickenbacker is 44 years old and, according to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, on the afternoon of Saturday, October 24, he turned an apartment in the Kingsborough Houses in Crown Heights into a scene of terror.
The indictment alleges that it all began with an argument. He then allegedly threatened his 38-year-old partner and their 11-year-old daughter with a knife. Moments later, he allegedly doused her with isopropyl alcohol and set her on fire. When first responders arrived, there was smoke in the apartment, and they could hear the woman screaming in pain beside a burned mattress. The girl, according to court documents, saw everything and told police that he warned her not to tell anyone or he would hurt her and her mother. He then fled.
The woman is in an induced coma in the burn unit at Weill Cornell, with serious injuries to her face, back, and hands. A police source said she is pregnant. According to court records, Rickenbacker served nine years in prison for shooting an ex-partner and her two-week-old daughter in 2015, and was released on parole in 2024. He is being held without bail and has not yet been convicted in this case.
