DALLAS _ Danyeil Townzen thrust a fist into the air at the back of a Dallas courtroom, using what little sensation she had left in her scarred right hand to celebrate her ex-boyfriend's judgment day.
For setting Danyeil on fire last year and abandoning her at a northeast Dallas apartment, a judge sentenced Matthew Gerth to prison for life _ while Danyeil got a new lease on hers.
It isn't the first time the 41-year-old has had to restart her life. She lost her mother and her marriage in years past, and in the May 2018 attack lost her home, van, job, and her tattoos, which burned away.
But Danyeil never lost her resolve.
"(I'm) starting over again," she said outside the courtroom, moments after Gerth was sentenced in September. "It's hard to do, but I got to start over from scratch. I lost everything. I've done it before, and I can do it again.
"I'm alive, and that's all that matters."
