Background: News footage of the house fire in Ansonia, Ohio, where Ericka Kramer was found dead on April 10 (WHIO). Inset (left): Peyton Beam (Darke County Sheriff”s Office). Inset (right): Ericka Kramer (Facebook).
An Ohio man who volunteered as a firefighter is accused of killing a woman he worked for before setting her house on fire to cover up the crime.
Peyton Beam, 22, was arrested on Sunday and charged with aggravated murder, two days after 50-year-old Ericka Kramer was found dead inside her home in Ansonia, Ohio. According to the Darke County Sheriff’s Office, the Ansonia Fire Department responded to calls of a house fire on April 10 at 12:29 p.m. and arrived to find the home “engulfed” in flames. Kramer was found deceased, and the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide.
One of the firefighters who responded to that scene was Beam. According to courtroom reporting by local CBS affiliate WHIO, prosecutors said Beam set the fire himself after he fatally shot Kramer.
During Beam’s first court appearance on Monday, prosecutors stated that the defendant did farm work at Kramer’s home since he was a teenager. Prosecutors said that Beam “executed” Kramer on April 10, telling the court, “She was shot twice in the back and twice in the head.”
Prosecutors said Beam then doused Kramer’s body in gasoline and set the house on fire. He later returned to the home while on duty as a volunteer firefighter with the Ansonia Fire Department to take part in the effort to extinguish it. The prosecutor said Beam “was one of the first people to get to the property” while it was burning.
Beam shook his head as he attended the proceedings via video call. His defense attorney told the court that Beam considered Kramer a “second mother,” according to WHIO’s reporting. He added that the defense “would be very interested in ballistics in this case, very interested in any evidence other than inference.”
Kramer, who is survived by a daughter and stepchildren and lost her husband in 2022, was a beloved cheerleading coach for Ansonia Public Schools.
Beam was charged with aggravated murder and aggravated arson. During his court appearance on Monday, a judge set his bond at $5 million, cash or surety. He would have to post 10% cash, or $500,000, to be granted release. He is currently still in custody at the Darke County Jail. His next court date was not available.
