Man Pleads Innocent to Murder : Crime: Hussein Ghaffari, accused of killing his former girlfriend by ramming her car and setting her afire, is held for a hearing May 15.

A man accused of killing his former girlfriend by ramming her car and then setting her afire pleaded not guilty to a murder charge Friday.

In court documents obtained Friday, sheriff’s deputies say Hussein Ghaffari confessed to throwing acid in the woman’s face, dousing her with gasoline and setting off the lethal blaze.

Both acid and gasoline were later found in a yellow Toyota sedan that deputies say Ghaffari used in the murder, according to documents filed in court.

Dressed in a jail-issued yellow jumpsuit, Ghaffari maintained his innocence with a simple nod as South County Municipal Judge Pamela Iles set May 15 for a preliminary hearing. Ghaffari is being held without bail in Orange County Jail.

Prosecutors are charging Ghaffari with one count of murder with special circumstances of lying in wait, infliction of torture and arson with intent to kill. He faces a potential death sentence.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies say that on Feb. 2, Ghaffari waited in a quiet Laguna Hills neighborhood for Narges (Manijeh) Bolouri, 35, to leave for work. When Bolouri got into her car, Ghaffari accelerated out of a parking lot across the street and smashed into the driver’s side of the vehicle, say police.

According to witnesses, he poured a liquid over Bolouri and ran off moments before the car erupted in flames.

Ghaffari had burns on both arms and was bleeding from a cut on his forehead when deputies found him trying to commandeer a United Parcel Service truck less than a mile from the crime scene, the documents said.

“When in custody, Mr. Ghaffari made . . . the following unsolicited statements to Deputy (Fred) Tharaldson. Mr. Ghaffari said, “I killed her. I got my car going 68 miles per hour and I crashed into her. I got out and poured acid on her face, then I poured gasoline on her and lit her on fire,” read the document.

A preliminary autopsy revealed that Bolouri, a nurse born in Iran, died from smoke inhalation and fourth-degree burns over 90% of her body.

Police have declined to speculate on the relationship between the two. But relatives of Bolouri say the woman had ended a 10-year relationship with Ghaffari and was engaged to another man at the time of her death.

Ghaffari, an Iranian national, had been living with relatives in Mission Viejo at the time of the murder.

Staff writer Wendy Paulson contributed to this story.