Background: Peek Road in Hartselle, Ala. (Google Maps). Inset: Amy Beth Taylor (Morgan County Sheriff’s Office).
An Alabama woman ended up in jail after being accused of setting her ex-boyfriend’s house ablaze, allegedly because he refused to attend a concert with her.
Amy Beth Taylor, 46, faces first-degree arson charges stemming from a Sept. 25 incident at her former boyfriend’s residence in Hartselle, Alabama. As reported by The Hartselle Enquirer, a local news source, Morgan County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched on Thursday to a fire at a residence on Peek Road. Upon arrival, they found firefighters already battling the blaze, along with several witnesses present at the scene.
When police spoke to them, they said Taylor was the ex-girlfriend of the property owner, and apparently, she was “irate.”
The affidavit details that Taylor visited the property that day, entering a shed. Witnesses disclosed that she was “enraged because (the victim) did not accompany her to a concert (the day prior).” She then allegedly made threats to ignite either the shed or the man’s home before leaving the shed.
Shortly after Taylor exited the shed, a witness reported that another woman residing there called to say her room was engulfed in smoke. Upon opening her room door, she discovered the entire house was also filled with smoke. Fortunately, she safely evacuated the premises and contacted 911.
Taylor was detained the same day and placed in the Morgan County Jail. As of Wednesday, she remains locked up, with bail set at $20,000. A judge has prohibited her from contacting the property owner or any witnesses.
During a court hearing on Monday, Caleb Brooks, a Morgan County Sheriff’s Office investigator, stated that after Taylor waived her Miranda rights, she provided a statement labeling the victim as her boyfriend. In her statement, she mentioned, “On 9/24/2025, my boyfriend and I planned to attend the Lil Wayne concert in Huntsville. After multiple attempts to call (my boyfriend) went unanswered, I went to the concert with my cousin and post-concert, I visited (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.
