Wisconsin woman was sentenced to 24 years in prison after torching her boyfriend’s residence during an eviction argument, triggering a fatal apartment fire that killed a 71-year-old neighbor two floors above.
Rashamba Claybrooks, 29, pleaded guilty to felony murder and arson of a building in connection with the death of Sam Nash, according to Milwaukee County court records.
The fatal sequence began shortly before 2:20 p.m. on April 8, 2025, when Milwaukee police officers responded to a suspicious fire call in the 3000 block of West Capitol Drive. While officers were en route, emergency dispatch upgraded the incident to an active structure fire on the building’s west side.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, the blaze originated inside a first-floor unit following a domestic dispute. Claybrooks and her boyfriend had argued earlier while shopping at Walmart, and upon returning home, she allegedly threw an object at him.
When her boyfriend told her she needed to move out, Claybrooks gathered cardboard and loose paper and piled them inside a closet filled with clothing and set them ablaze before fleeing the building. The victim’s boyfriend initially smelled smoke and attempted to douse the growing closet flames using a fire extinguisher, according to police records.
However, the fire got rekindled and soon became an uncontrollable blaze that produced massive amounts of smoke, which rose through the upper part of the building. Two floors above his apartment, on the third floor, 71-year-old Sam Nash was stuck inside his apartment. Smoke could be seen rising straight up into Nash’s windows from video evidence obtained by investigators.
The emergency teams first cleared the building without finding Nash. It took two more hours before Nash’s son walked into the building to look for his father. At that point, Nash was found stuck between a kitchen table and a wall, with his hoodie covering his face. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
An autopsy determined the official cause of death to be smoke inhalation.
Debra Nash, the victim’s sister, spoke to CBS affiliate WDJT following the incident, expressing outrage over the search response. She said:
“If my family had not entered that building, my brother would probably still be lying dead in that building.”
— Debra Nash (victim’s sister), Lawandcrime
“How did you guys miss my brother? How could that happen? That’s, like, awful.”
— Debra Nash (victim’s sister), Lawandcrime
Nonetheless, the criminal complaint didn’t link Nash’s death to the charges filed against Claybrooks. Following her sentencing, Claybrook was remanded to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to begin serving her 24-year sentence.
