Woman pleads guilty to burning Lorain home in 2024 to keep it away from soon-to-be ex-husband

A former Lorain woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges she set her Brownell Avenue house on fire more than a year ago so her soon-to-be ex-husband wouldn't get anything from it in their pending divorce. Amber Bodnar-Kurta, 39, who now lives in Cleveland, according to jail records, pleaded guilty in Common Pleas Judge Melissa Kobasher's courtroom to three counts of aggravated arson, all felonies, plus a felony theft charge in a separate March 2025 case. Sentencing is March 16. Ohio law says a prison term on the charges is not mandatory, but it is presumed, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Chris Pierre said. Bodnar-Kurta will have to register as a convicted arsonist in Ohio. Her trial had been set to begin Tuesday. Defense attorney Jenifer Berki-Merrill said she was reserving any comments for sentencing. Lorain firefighters were called at about 4:30 p.m. Oct. 20, 2024, for a fire at 529 Brownell Ave., the home Bodnar-Kurta shared with her soon-to-be ex-husband. The fire started in the first-floor living room, spread throughout the house and to 537 Brownell Ave. next door. It took firefighters an hour to get it under control, the house was a total loss and it was later demolished. The ex-husband, who had been living in the basement, had gone to church and wasn't home when the fire started, police said. Bodnar-Kurta and her boyfriend were seen speeding away from the house in a car, but she was later stopped by a fire investigator while walking down the street on the other side of the city and admitted what she had done. Bodnar-Kurta told authorities she set the fire so her ex-husband wouldn't get anything from the divorce. She had said the same thing to other witnesses, according to Lorain police. She admitted in a written statement to investigators that she lit a couch and a blanket on fire, Pierre said. She didn't call the fire department and also didn't check to see if anyone else was home after she did, he said. Though no one was injured, the fire put firefighters and neighbors at risk, authorities said. Bodnar-Kurta later told investigators she "did not expect it to go up so quickly and bad as it did," Pierre said. She also told them she was intoxicated, high on drugs and "an emotional wreck" when she lit the fire, he said. In the theft case, Bodnar-Kurta rented a 2017 box truck from U-Haul early last year and didn't return it for more than 24 hours, Pierre said. The Lorain County Sheriff's Office tracked it down and filed a criminal charge. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.