Sunday, February 15, 2009

Help As You Can - Roberta Busby

Just a few days ago, I put up a post about a woman who was doused with a flammable liquid outside of a strip club, her place of employment, and set on fire. There are two suspects in this horrific attack, named Nathaniel Petrillo and Rianne Theriault-Odom. In the comments here and elsewhere, there was a great out pouring of support for her.

The new details that have come in since then are few but significant. The woman’s name has been released as Roberta Busby. As of yesterday, she was reported to be in critical but stable condition. This is a relief and excellent news. Her attackers, however, still have not been found and arrested. You can view images of the suspects here. If you know anything, please immediately call the LAPD at 213-485-2531 (or 877-LAPD-24-7 for after-hours and weekend calls).

Perhaps most importantly of all, many of you have asked how you can help Roberta financially with her medical bills. I’ve yet to find anything on that specifically, but after some serious searching, I did find information on an account that has been set up for donations for her children. Remember that Roberta is obviously out of work at the moment, has likely lost her previous livelihood entirely, and that any financial contribution will be a huge help in reducing the overall financial burden she is facing.

According to local CBS affiliate KCAL 9, here is how you can send donations:

If you would like to help the children of dancer Roberta Busby, who was recently set on fire outside the club where she works, bring a check in to any Washington Mutual branch, made out to “Rodrigo Busby For The Benefit Of The Children Of Roberta Busby” or send a check to

3835 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., #256
Westlake Village, CA 91362

Please give if you can, and pass on the information about how to help regardless. If anyone happens to have any additional information, please let me know. And keep up those well-wishes, prayers or whatever it is you’re doing in the hopes that Roberta is going to pull through.

Via