Exclusive: Burn victim's mom sees daughter in hospital

Monday, November 23, 2009

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Audrey Mabrey's mother, Lisa Brown, visited her daughter for the first time Thursday night.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- In an exclusive interview, the mother of a woman Hillsborough County detectives say was set on fire by her husband has seen her daughter for the first time since the incident.

Audrey Mabrey's mother, Lisa Brown, flew in from Texas Thursday night.

"When we finally got here and I could see her... it wasn't, it wasn't looking at my little girl," Brown said.

Mabrey has burns to more than 80 percent of her body.

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Investigators say Mabrey's husband, 44-year old Chris Hanney, doused her with accelerent and lit her on fire Tuesday. Hanney is currently being held in the Hillsborough County jail.

Brown can't believe what her daughter, a mother of two young boys, is going through.

"You're just in shock when you see something like this happen to your own child," she said. "She's my baby and she's a beautiful woman."

Mabrey is heavily sedated. Brown says her daughter is showing signs of response. Doctors told her Mabrey's vital signs show she can hear them.

At this point, Brown says she's focusing on the recovery of her daughter and not what her son-in-law is suspected of doing.

Mabrey, a mother of two young boys, has burns to more than 80-percent of her body.

"I can't tell you why but my mind hasn't gone there," she said. "I just can't bring myself to have any feelings about him. I'm numb."

She's just waiting for the day when she'll see her daughter smile again.

"I pray the Lord will heal her completely and she'll come back to what she was before this happened," she said.

Brown arrived with her husband and stepson. They have to go back to work in Texas but Brown is hoping she can find an affordable place to stay in the Bay area so she can be by her daughter's side.