Lee County deputies say a 23-year-old man is charged with murder and arson in the Ranchette Road house fire that killed a woman

The Lee County Sheriff's Office says it has charged a 23-year-old South Fort Myers man in connection with the house fire on Ranchette Road where a woman's body was found last week.

According to the sheriff's office, George Beemer was arrested on Saturday, July 25 and faces charges of second-degree murder, first-degree arson and abuse of a dead human body. Gulf Coast News reporter Carson Zorn published the account on Monday afternoon, and WINK News anchor Gracie Fusco reported the same sheriff's office release separately.

The sequence deputies describe begins earlier that Saturday morning. The sheriff's office says Beemer called 911 and reported chest pain, that Lee County EMS responded to the home on Ranchette Road, and that he was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. Shortly after the ambulance left, the sheriff's office says, a second 911 call reported a fire at the same address. South Trail fire crews entered the home to put out the blaze and found the severely burned body of a woman inside.

The Major Crimes Unit took over the investigation and the Bureau of Fire, Arson and Explosives Investigations opened a parallel inquiry into the cause and origin of the fire. The sheriff's office says detectives developed probable cause that Beemer shot the woman before intentionally setting the home on fire.

Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in the release that the case involved cruelty he called beyond comprehension and credited the response by deputies, fire and EMS personnel and Major Crimes detectives.

Every claim in the four paragraphs above is the sheriff's office account, reported by Gulf Coast News and WINK News. None of it has been tested in court. An arrest establishes that an agency believes it has probable cause, which is not a finding that a person did anything. Beemer has not entered a plea, has not been convicted of any offense, and no attorney of record for him was listed on any public docket reachable at the time of publication. He remains in the Lee County Jail and could not be reached for comment.

The woman who died has not been publicly identified. The sheriff's office has not released her name, has not described what it says led to the shooting, and has stated no motive. This brief does not supply any of those.

There is no public agency document setting out these facts at a stable address. The sheriff's office distributes case releases to newsrooms directly rather than posting them to its website, where the published feed carries community notices and fraud alerts. The release is therefore carried here as the agency gave it to the two newsrooms that reported it, attributed accordingly.

The sheriff's office says the investigation remains active while it works with the District 21 Medical Examiner's Office and the State Attorney's Office.

This brief credits Gulf Coast News and reporter Carson Zorn for the reporting and links their account, and credits WINK News and Gracie Fusco for reporting the same release.