The Delray Beach Police Department is asking the public for its help in finding a person who used a hot liquid to burn a homeless woman.
Melissa Elizabeth Daniels, 41, has been recuperating at Jackson Memorial Hospital since the Aug. 28 assault. Her’ condition is unknown.
Police declined to release many details regarding the incident, including where it took place or what kind of liquid was used in the attack, saying their investigation is incomplete.
Delray police are familiar with Daniels, who has been arrested in Palm Beach County 65 times since February 1999, including 12 times in 2014. Almost all of the arrests were made for drug charges, trespassing or not showing up for court appearances. Daniels was last arrested on Aug. 10 for trespassing.
According to a police source, Daniels gave conflicting accounts of what happened on the day she was burned.
Sophia Keyes, a Delray Beach resident, said she’s known Daniels most of her life.
“She never bothered anybody,” Keyes said. “The most she would ask you was, ‘Can I have a quarter?’ Nobody deserves to have this happen to them.”