Family and friends in Chula Vista are rallying around 45-year-old Amanda Buchanan after she was brutally set on fire while working her shift at a 7 Eleven on Broadway and L Street. Buchanan, a manager at the store, was attacked Saturday morning in what relatives say was a violent ambush carried out by her ex-boyfriend.
Her son, Dominic Rivera, traveled from Idaho and watched the store’s surveillance video for the first time on Monday. The footage left him shaken. “She couldn’t see him come in; as he came in, she had her back turned to go to the bathroom; he rushed in with a can of gasoline, doused her with it, they got into a scuffle, and that’s when he set her on fire,” Rivera said.
A co-worker attempted to extinguish the flames but suffered severe burns while trying to help. Firefighters arrived to find the coworker outside and Buchanan still inside, immobilized by her injuries. “The owner of the business next door came in with the fire extinguisher and put her out. She was burning for a total of forty seconds,” Rivera added.
Police arrested 41-year-old Jose Villanueva hours later in Redlands. Friends say Buchanan began dating him in November 2022, but had been trying to distance herself from him. Rivera said he had no idea his mother was in danger, according to local ABC affiliate KGTV.
“I don’t know if she was just trying to protect herself or protect me in a way because she would talk really good things about him and say that he was a great guy and talked him up, so it made it seem like I had nothing to worry about, when behind closed doors there was a lot to worry about,” he said.
Villanueva has a violent criminal history and now faces more than a dozen felonies, including attempted murder, torture, and arson. Rivera hopes others learn from what happened. “I think the biggest thing I could take away from this, and anybody could take away from this, is don’t hide it in the dark, let people know what is going on, cause you never know what’s going to happen.”
Buchanan is known for living a simple life, working hard, and enjoying bingo nights, casinos, and time with friends. Now, her injuries are life-altering. Rivera said more than 80 percent of her body is burned, leaving doctors with little viable skin for grafts. The family is meeting with medical teams to plan her next steps.
Villanueva, who was reportedly living unsheltered in Chula Vista after being fired from the store, will be arraigned on Wednesday. Rivera says he will be there. “There were a lot of people who did not like this guy, but my mom would always try to protect him,” he said.
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