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Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, the congressional staffer who died in September after setting herself on fire in her backyard, told first responders she did it because she had discovered her estranged husband was romantically involved with her best friend, newly disclosed records show.
The documents show that police received a 911 call from Santos-Aviles' home in Uvalde at 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2025, and that she could be heard screaming in pain: "Please send help. It hurts so bad."
When the dispatcher asked for her address, Santos-Aviles cried out, "Oh my God, I don't want to die," according to a report by a Uvalde detective who listened to a recording of the 911 call. Five police officers, four firefighters and an EMS unit responded.
She told responding police officers that "she discovered her husband was cheating on her with her best friend, and as a result, she poured gasoline on herself and set herself on fire," according to an incident report by one of the first officers on the scene.
Santos-Aviles was transported by helicopter to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where she died the next morning.
Before lighting herself on fire, Santos-Aviles texted a friend of her husband's to tell him what she was about to do, the records show. The text referred to her husband, Adrian Aviles, by his nickname and said: "Tell Baller I'm setting myself on fire right now, so have fun raising our son."
She is then seen putting the lighter back in her pocket, pouring more gasoline on herself and running the lighter over her body again in the same way. She manages to put the fire out by rolling on the ground and training a garden hose on herself, according to the records. She then walked through her house, leaving a trail of blood and burnt skin in her bedroom and hallways. First responders found her on the front porch.
