ASHEVILLE - A man found suffering from severe burns on Tunnel Road after apparently being doused in accelerant and ignited has died, police say.

Larry Donnell Alston, 58, died the morning of Aug. 22.

He was in care at Wake Forest Baptist Health Burn Center in Winston-Salem after being found early Aug. 18. The initial investigation suggested he had been intentionally set on fire, APD said in an Aug. 19 news release.

Police arrested a man in connection to the incident on Aug. 21, charging him with attempted first-degree murder.

Robert Charles Austin's charge has been upgraded to that of first-degree murder. The 66-year-old is being held at the Buncombe County jail without bond.

Police have not released information about a possible motive and are unable to confirm that the two men were any more than casual acquaintances, according to department spokeswoman Meredith Warfield.

Officers responding to calls Aug. 18 found the burn victim at 1329 Tunnel Road — the address for Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry's Veterans Restoration Quarters, which offers housing and aid to homeless vets.

The Rev. Scott Rogers, ABCCM's executive director, said the organization called 911 when Alston stumbled in seeking help, but that the crime did not occur on the organization's property.

Alston was unfamiliar to ABCCM, Rogers added. The suspect, however, had a brief stay in ABCCM's emergency shelter a couple of months ago, he said. In that time, Austin exhibited behavior that resulted in his being banned from the property on June 22.

Austin has an extensive criminal record in North Carolina dating to at least 1983, according to Department of Public Safety records.

Charges against him range from misdemeanor traffic violations to felonies like breaking and entering, larceny, selling a schedule VI controlled substance and habitual impaired driving.

The only violent crime his records show is a misdemeanor assault on a policeman that occurred in 1984.

Austin has served multiple prison sentences, including once, in 1988, for the offense of escaping prison. Most recently, he was incarcerated in August 2017 for possessing a weapon as an inmate. Records show he was released on parole in June 2018.

APD is seeking information on the whereabouts of two potential witnesses in the case. In an Aug. 20 news release, the department requested the public's assistance in locating the driver of a white GMC Sierra pickup truck and the driver of a silver Jeep liberty SUV.

Both were featured in surveillance footage. Neither is a suspect in the case, APD said, but the drivers may have information beneficial to the investigation due to their presence in the area of the incident near the time it occurred.

Anyone with information on the crime or the whereabouts of the potential witnesses is asked to call APD at 828-252-1110 or Asheville-Buncombe CrimeStoppers at 828-255-5050. Calls may remain anonymous.