A woman who was set ablaze on a Chicago subway train by a man branded a danger to society has been discharged from hospital three months on.
Bethany MaGee, 26, has completed inpatient treatment at Stroger Hospital in the Windy City, she said Friday.
‘My family and I are grateful to be able to celebrate this milestone, and we want to sincerely thank everyone who has offered support, kindness, and encouragement during this time,’ MaGee said in a statement.
‘I am especially thankful to the burn team at Stroger Hospital for their exceptional care, compassion, and expertise, as well as for the support they showed my family throughout my hospitalization.’
MaGee, from Upland in Indiana, did not offer any further details on her heath or recovery.
She suffered burns to 60 percent of her body in the attack, which prosecutors say was carried out by 50-year-old Lawrence Reed.
Magee was doused in gasoline and set alight on the city’s Blue Line, but managed to flee the train.
Reed had 72 prior arrests at the time of the November 2025 attack and had been freed by a woke judge months earlier after allegedly attacking a social worker.
MaGee, seen here, completed inpatient treatment at Stroger Hospital in the Windy City, she said Friday
Lawrence Reed is the suspect accused of setting MaGee alight. He has a slew of previous arrests and was branded a danger to society by prosecutors yet walked free last year
He has been charged with terrorism and arson over the attack on MaGee and faces life behind bars if convicted.
Surveillance footage showed MaGee sitting in the train car before Reed, a complete stranger, allegedly poured gasoline over her head and body.
In a horrifying chain of events, MaGee attempted to fight off her attacker while Reed allegedly tried to set her on fire.
Reed approached MaGee and repeatedly yelled ‘burn alive b***h,’ a criminal affidavit filed in federal court alleged.
Horrified locals believe MaGee’s ordeal could have been avoided, had a female Illinois not judge ignored a prosecutor’s warnings about Reed.
Despite the prosecutor warning Cook County Judge Teresa Molina-Gonzalez that Reed had a lengthy rap sheet and his next crime would ‘likely be violent’, she allowed him to walk free.
MaGee was seen running to the front of the train car to escape before her attacker allegedly ignited the bottle in his hand, according to the affidavit.
Reed then allegedly ran to the front of the train car and watched his victim as her body was ‘engulfed in flames’.
Surveillance footage shows the attack on MaGee
MaGee attempted to extinguish the flames by dropping to the ground and fled the train car when it stopped at Clark and Lake.
She collapsed when she arrived at the station where multiple witnesses attended to her while she waited for emergency responders.
Investigators obtained additional security footage of Reed allegedly filling a container with gasoline at a gas station 20 minutes before the attack.
As Judge Molina-Gonzalez released Reed in August, she said: ‘I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me to’, according to court transcripts.
Reed has been arrested almost 50 times and has had multiple felony convictions over the last three decades.
The incident in Chicago drew comparisons to the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, in August of last year.
The 23-year-old was murdered in Charlotte after being stabbed in the neck. Career criminal Decarlos Brown is accused of killing her in the frenzied attack.
Brown, 34, was well-known to law enforcement having spent most of his life in and out of prison on a litany of offences.
