The woman told investigators her former boyfriend stayed close during her hospital treatment and pressured her to give doctors another explanation.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — For more than two months after suffering third-degree burns that required surgeries and skin grafts, a Phoenix woman did not tell police that her former boyfriend had deliberately set her on fire, a delay investigators say she explained as the result of continuing fear and intimidation.
Her Aug. 4 report ultimately led Phoenix police to arrest Angel Anthony Nahle, 24, on Aug. 18 and accuse him of multiple felonies, including aggravated assault, stalking and aggravated domestic violence. But the police account of the case does not begin with the arrest. It centers on what investigators say happened between the May 25 injury and the moment the woman felt able to approach authorities: a hospitalization during which she allegedly gave medical workers a false explanation, the continued presence of the man she later accused and weeks of contact she said she maintained because she was afraid for her safety.
According to a probable cause account described by Law&Crime and Phoenix-area news outlets, Nahle instructed the woman to tell hospital personnel that her burns came from a vehicle carburetor fire. The woman later told investigators that Nahle remained with her almost constantly while she was being treated. She believed, according to the court record, that his presence was intended to keep her from telling medical staff who was responsible for her injuries. Police reports cited by the news organizations say she continued the relationship for several weeks afterward, not because she considered the conflict resolved, but because she feared what Nahle could do to her.
The physical consequences were substantial. The woman was treated for third-degree burns and underwent multiple operations, including skin-graft procedures, according to local reporting. The available accounts do not identify her, and they do not provide a complete medical prognosis. They do establish that her treatment extended beyond emergency care and required repeated procedures. In keeping with the court records, police characterized the incident as an alleged domestic violence attack. The reporting reviewed for this article does not indicate that medical workers independently witnessed how the injuries occurred, making the woman’s later statement and the evidence collected afterward important parts of the investigation.
Once she went to police Aug. 4, investigators say the evidentiary picture changed. The woman provided messages from Nahle that authorities said referred to the burning and to his anger. Police said one message included a warning suggesting that he might not be able to control himself if the same kind of situation happened again. Eleven days after the police report, the woman also recorded a phone conversation with Nahle. Investigators say statements from that call included an acknowledgment that he had considered shooting her before deciding instead to obtain gasoline. The full conversation has not been publicly reproduced in the reports reviewed, so those assertions remain the police account of the recording.
Only after documenting the hospital period and the later communications does the police narrative turn back to the hours before the woman was burned. Investigators said she had ended her relationship with Nahle on May 24. During the night, he repeatedly called and texted her, becoming increasingly upset when she did not answer, according to the probable cause account. At about 4 a.m. May 25, she accepted one of his FaceTime calls. Police say Nahle accused her of infidelity, threatened her and displayed a water bottle containing what he said was gasoline. He also allegedly threatened to burn her car before traveling to her apartment while the call was still active.
The woman initially remained inside her sister’s apartment because she was afraid, investigators said. After seeing Nahle outside near her vehicle, she eventually went out in an attempt to defuse the confrontation. Police allege that Nahle continued questioning her about the breakup and then splashed a liquid believed to be gasoline onto her when she briefly turned her attention away. Investigators say he ignited the liquid, causing her clothing and the left side of her body to catch fire. Reports say Nahle then helped pull off her burning shirt. The description comes from the police investigation and court materials; no criminal trial had established those facts in the sources reviewed.
The alleged conduct after the burning is one reason the case developed differently from a crime reported immediately from a scene. Instead of officers arriving with an accusation already made against a named suspect, investigators were presented in August with an event that had occurred in May, after medical treatment had begun and the parties had remained in contact. Police therefore relied on the woman’s account along with communications they said could corroborate key parts of it. The texts and recorded phone call were particularly significant because they were created outside the initial hospital setting, where the woman said she felt unable to tell others what had happened.
On Aug. 18, members of a Phoenix police enforcement team found Nahle at his workplace in Tempe and arrested him. News reports say that once he was taken for questioning, he invoked his rights and declined to answer detectives’ questions. Authorities did not describe a confession during that police interview. Instead, the alleged admissions cited in public reports came from the earlier recorded conversation with the woman. That distinction is important because the evidence reported in the case includes several categories: the woman’s statements, medical injuries consistent with a serious burn, digital messages and the recorded phone call, each of which would be evaluated separately in court.
Booking reports initially listed two aggravated assault counts as well as stalking, threatening or intimidating and aggravated domestic violence. Other coverage described the accusations more generally as multiple felonies that included aggravated assault and stalking. Police also said a records check showed Nahle had two prior domestic violence convictions. FOX 10 reported a broader prior record that included robbery and criminal damage convictions. Those earlier cases formed part of the background reported by police and local media, but they do not determine whether Nahle committed the new offenses alleged in connection with the May 25 incident.
The woman also told investigators that Nahle had threatened to kill her before and that she feared he could do so if released from custody. That assertion was reported as part of the probable cause record and helps explain both the delayed police report and her account of remaining in the relationship after the hospital stay. It is not an independent finding about what Nahle would do in the future. Courts generally make release decisions based on the record before them, and early news reports said Nahle was being held on $400,000 bond after his arrest.
The case therefore spans two timelines: the alleged violence itself and the later process through which the woman disclosed it. Police say the first unfolded within hours of a breakup, beginning with repeated communications and ending with severe injuries. The second stretched across the hospital stay and following weeks before the woman contacted authorities, turned over messages and recorded a call. That gap is not treated in the charging account as an empty period. Investigators describe it as part of the alleged intimidation surrounding the case and as a reason they sought evidence beyond the woman’s statement alone.
What happens next will be determined through the court process, where prosecutors would have to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. News reports published after the arrest identified an Aug. 25 court appearance, but no verified later account reviewed for this update established the result of that hearing or a final judgment in the case.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.