Background: Peek Road in Hartselle, Ala. (Google Maps). Inset: Amy Beth Taylor (Morgan County Sheriff’s Office).
An Alabama woman landed herself behind bars after she was accused of setting her ex-boyfriend’s house on fire, reportedly because he chose not to go to a concert with her.
Amy Beth Taylor, 46, is charged with first-degree arson following an incident on Sept. 25 at her former boyfriend’s home in Hartselle, Alabama. According to court documents obtained by The Hartselle Enquirer, a local news outlet, Morgan County Sheriff’s deputies were called on Thursday to respond to a fire at a residence on Peek Road. When they arrived, firefighters were already on the scene, as well several witnesses.
When police spoke to them, they said Taylor was the ex-girlfriend of the property owner, and apparently, she was “irate.”
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According to an affidavit, Taylor arrived at the property that day and walked into a shed. Witnesses told police that Taylor was “irate due to (the victim) not going with her to a concert (the day before).” She then allegedly threatened to burn down the man’s home or the shed, then walked out of the shed.
Not long after Taylor was seen leaving the shed, one of the witnesses told police that another woman living on the property called her saying that her room was filled with smoke. When the woman opened the door of her room, she found the rest of the house filled with smoke as well. She was able to get out of the house safely and call 911.
Police arrested Taylor the same day and booked her into the Morgan County Jail. She is in custody as of Wednesday, with her bail set at $20,000. She was ordered by a judge not to contact the property owner or any of the witnesses.
During her court appearance on Monday, Caleb Brooks, an investigator with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, testified that after Taylor waived her Miranda rights, she provided a statement in which she referred to the victim as her boyfriend. The statement read, “On 9/24/2025, my boyfriend and I were supposed to go to the Lil Wayne concert in Huntsville. When I tried to call (my boyfriend) multiple times yesterday, he never answered the phone. I went to the concert with my cousin there and after the concert, I went to (my boyfriend’s) house around (midnight).”
Brooks also stated that Taylor told the witnesses at the scene that she had been “consuming alcoholic beverages and was upset” because her ex-boyfriend did not go to the concert with her the night before. She also allegedly said that she “was going to catch the shed or his house on fire.”
Taylor’s statement continued, “I’ve told (my boyfriend) in the past that I would burn his house down in a joking manner. I didn’t catch (my boyfriend’s) house on fire.”
Taylor is charged with first-degree arson and also faces three counts of chemical endangerment to a child for allegedly exposing three of her six children to methamphetamine.
