A 20-year-old Louisiana woman who claimed she was set on fire by racists who scrawled KKK and a racial slur on her car made up the incident, state police said Tuesday, the New York Daily News reports.
Police said forensic evidence shows Sharmeka Moffitt set herself on fire on Sunday and invented the story of a hate crime, which the FBI was investigating.
Moffitt received extensive burns on more than half her body, according to the Daily News.
“The evidence does not support the statement that she was attacked by three males,” said Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Lt. Julie Lewis.
The woman’s fingerprints were found on a lighter and lighter fluid, police said.
Local police will decide whether to charge Moffitt.
