ST. LOUIS — The victim of a fire in St. Louis on Jan. 20 was Bob Kramer, the medical examiner's office confirmed Friday.
Kramer's family and the community knew this would be the outcome, but were made aware of the medical examiner's findings.
The St. Louis Fire Department hasn't released the cause of a fire that broke out around 7:30 p.m. Friday on the 4100 block of Laclede Avenue
Capt. Garon Mosby said it may be hard to determine because of the extent of the damage.
Kramer's partner, Dug Feltch, was taken by ambulance to a St. Louis hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
Mosby said Kramer and Feltch were home at the time the smoke was discovered.
"One went to go investigate and they got separated," he said.
Kramer's body was found on Saturday.
Kramer and Feltch lived on the second floor of the building. Downstairs, there was a theater, gift shop and a wood shop to make these string puppets.
A memorial of balloons and signs grew outside the destroyed building.
"There are over thousands of thousands of puppets in the house that are totally gone. It's irreplaceable," neighbor Mary Ann Croeck said.
Chris Peimann, Director of Advancement at the Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries said the loss of Kramer is also a loss to the entire art world.
"Bob Kramer's Marionettes is unique. There aren't many cities that have this world-class world-renowned theater. They were known all over the world," said Peimann.
There is a GoFundMe set up for Kramer's life partner. All of the money raised will directly go to Feltch.