ABERDEEN, Wash. - The Aberdeen man who was attacked and beaten by people who poured an accelerant on him and set him on fire died Monday.

Police are now investigating Marlin Lee's death as a homicide.

Lee was dropped off last Tuesday at an Aberdeen hospital, and then transferred to a Seattle burn unit.

Last week, the Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office released surveillance video of Lee being left at the hospital.

"He had suffered extensive burns to his body and had appeared to have some accelerants put on him," said Undersheriff Rick Scott, Grays Harbor Sheriff's Office.

According to investigators, shortly after Lee got in the emergency room, he collapsed.

All hospital staff could get out of him was that he got hurt somewhere between Hoquiam and Ocean Shores.

He was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle in critical condition.

According to friends and family, he left his Aberdeen home with two women at 9 p.m. on Nov. 17. They went to the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino in Ocean Shores and the women say Lee left without them just after midnight.

Four hours later, he mysteriously showed up at the hospital.

GHSO

Marlin Lee

Loved ones said Lee was a friend to those who had no friends. He had opened up his Aberdeen home to the needy.

"He's just a buddy to everybody to have someone hurt him that bad… it's beyond belief,” said Deanna Kinkade.

Last Tuesday, detectives were looking for the driver of the pick-up who dropped Lee at the hospital. That night, the man was identified. The Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Department said the man's wife asked him if he helped the victim after seeing what looked like his truck on TV. The husband said he found the victim in a ditch in the Copalis area and took him to the hospital.

Police say they have a person of interest, who is in custody on another matter.