Police: Teacher’s Ex Sets Car On Fire With Her Inside

Published: 5/12/2011 | Updated: 07/19/2023

KENNESAW, Ga. — A man set his ex-girlfriend on fire while she was in a car at a Kennesaw gas station early Wednesday, Cobb County police said.

Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt confirmed that the victim is Rachel Brokaw, a special needs teacher at Austell Intermediate School.

The incident happened at the BP on Cobb Place Boulevard and Barrett Parkway. Channel 2’s Amy Napier Viteri went to the BP, where gas pumps were roped off and police combed through what was left of the charred vehicle.

A Cobb County police investigator told Napier Viteri that a man and woman arrived at the gas station around 2 a.m. Police later identified the man as 25-year-old Morgan Elijah Yarbrough, of Powder Springs. They said he was arguing with his ex before the fire.

Witnesses said they saw a man pour gasoline on top of the woman. Police said Yarbrough set his ex’s car on fire, while she was inside, and fled the scene. A witness sent Channel 2 a picture of the car, with flames coming out of the back end.

“He could’ve blew up the whole gas station. A lot of people could’ve died,” a BP customer told Napier Viteri.

The woman was taken to an area hospital for treatment of third-degree burns.

Brokaw had been living with the man at a home just across the Paulding County line since being evicted from a house in Powder Springs about a month ago, Cavitt confirmed.

Warrants were issued for Yarbrough, who is charged with aggravated assault, aggravated battery and first-degree arson. He turned himself in at Cobb County Jail Wednesday afternoon.