Left inset: Rosa Maria Kramer. Right inset: Timothy Joseph Kramer (Escambia County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The home where Rosa Kramer was killed. (WEAR/YouTube)
A Florida man shot and killed his recently estranged wife and wounded their dog at the home they once shared as she collected her belongings and then told his sister a “fictitious” story about it being in self-defense, police said.
Timothy Joseph Kramer, 51, faces a first-degree premeditated murder charge in the death of Rosa Maria Kramer, 47, court records show. He also faces a charge of cruelty to animals in connection with shooting the dog.
Timothy Kramer shot and killed his wife early on July 23 in their residence in the 2600 block of Hillcrest Avenue in Pensacola, according to an arrest report outlining the allegations.
The series of events leading to the discovery of the victim and the arrest started when Escambia County patrol deputies responded to a mobile home park about a missing person, court documents said. Once there, deputies spoke with the victim’s sister, who said Rosa Kramer had left her husband about two weeks earlier and had been living with her father.
At 6 a.m. that morning, Rosa Kramer left her father’s house to go to her former residence, where her husband still lived, to pick up belongings, but she hadn’t returned to her father’s home where she lived. She was supposed to take him to his doctor’s appointment, the arrest report said. The sister tried calling and texting her but got no response.
The sister then reached out to Rosa Kramer on Facebook and received a reply that said Rosa Kramer “was at the beach” even though the sister said Rosa Kramer “rarely goes to the beach, and it would be extremely unusual for her to go abruptly when she was supposed to take her father to the doctor,” according to the arrest report.
“The messages talked about needing some time and being at the beach having a drink,” the report said.
When Rosa Kramer’s sister wrote to her in a Facebook message that “Timothy Kramer better not have done anything,” the response was, “He did nothing but give me my stuff and left,” the document said.
The sister said she was concerned because the Hillcrest home was the last place she was believed to be.
Deputies went to the Hillcrest home and noticed no vehicles in the driveway, but noted what appeared to be freshly disturbed earth in front of the privacy gate on the side of the house. It appeared the gate had been opened recently, court documents said.
Deputies also noted tire tracks in the grass leading into the backyard but saw no vehicle. Neighbors, meanwhile, saw Timothy Kramer park his truck in the backyard at 5 a.m., about an hour before Rosa Kramer arrived, the report said.
“It is reasonable to believe that S/Timothy Kramer attempted to conceal his vehicle behind the privacy fence in an effort to avoid V/Rosa Kramer from knowing he was present at the residence,” court documents said.
Rosa Kramer had told her father that she intended to get her stuff and be gone before Timothy Kramer returned home from work at a pet store, the arrest report said.
The father told deputies he was worried because when his daughter left her husband two weeks earlier, he began calling her and threatening to shoot himself if she didn’t come back and informed deputies that the suspect owned firearms, the arrest report said. He also warned his daughter about going near Timothy Kramer because he seemed “unstable” and he feared what he might do, the document said.
Authorities tried to find Rosa Kramer by pinging her phone but had no luck. Law enforcement pinged Timothy Kramer’s phone to an apartment in Milton, more than 20 miles from the Pensacola home, court documents said.
At the Milton apartment complex, police spotted Timothy Kramer’s green Toyota Tacoma in a parking lot and found the suspect in an apartment in the complex with his sister. He was detained after his sister told police he fatally shot Rosa Kramer in the head at their house on Hillcrest, the report said.
Investigators in Pensacola, meanwhile, found Rosa Kramer’s vehicle abandoned in a park parking lot behind a dumpster and out of sight from the main road between two baseball fields near the Hillcrest home.
At the Hillcrest home, investigators found several blood drops on the tile floor in various locations, court documents said. They found the wounded dog and followed a trail of blood to the porch, where they found puddles of blood outside the back door and on the porch, the document said.
Police found Rosa Kramer’s body surrounded by blood, lying face up on the floor in the back bedroom, which had a significant amount of blood on the flooring and surrounding areas, court documents said. Authorities said they found smeared blood and what appeared to be bloody footprints leading from the bedroom to the hallway. She had been shot twice. One bullet entered and exited her head, court documents said.
Timothy Kramer was booked into a Milton police station jail with suspected blood on the right front of his jeans, the report said.
Timothy Kramer’s sister said he called her at 6 a.m. and confessed that he shot his estranged wife and claimed it was in self-defense, the arrest report said. The sister said she urged him to contact law enforcement and “explain the situation to avoid getting into trouble,” court documents said.
She claimed he “seemed very scared of getting in trouble, however he told her he contacted the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office to report the shooting,” the document said. She allegedly told investigators that her brother led her to believe that Rosa Kramer’s death “had been investigated and that it was determined to be a self-defense situation.”
She said she became suspicious when he did not produce a report or a card with a case number.
Based on her statement, “it was evident that S/Timothy Kramer provided a fictitious story to her regarding V/Rosa Kramer’s death investigation, which lead her to believe he was not in any trouble regarding the incident,” authorities wrote in the report.
Authorities said the two exchanged text messages about the shooting.
“Tim you told me you killed her. I cannot be a accessory to this. I have a flancé and his daughter to think about,” the document said Timothy Kramer’s sister wrote to him at one point.
“Tim you need to call the law,” she said in another, the document said.
“Ok I am calling them now,” he allegedly responded.
At one point, he allegedly texted his sister, “It is all good I did this it is on me.”
He also allegedly asked her “to hide him and to lie about his whereabouts” if she was approached by law enforcement, court documents said.
Timothy Kramer is being held without bail at the Escambia County Jail, online booking records show. He’s set to appear in court on Aug. 16, online court records show.
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