Eric R. Kramer was 32, male, and White/Caucasian when his life ended in a violent shooting on November 13, 2015, in Richland Township near Quakertown, Pennsylvania. He was remembered in obituary information as a forklift operator from the Perkasie area, formerly of Coopersburg, and as someone who enjoyed fishing, woodworking, and collecting antiques, especially old bottles.
Court records place him at 160 Richlandtown Pike on the evening he died, arriving at a property with multiple sheds, including one referred to during trial as the “Tiki Bar.”
That evening, Nicholas C. Kovatto had arrived at the home of James Cressman, a friend who lived on the property. According to the court’s later summary of trial evidence, Kovatto and Cressman went into one of the sheds, where they talked, drank beer, and smoked marijuana. A short time later, they heard a vehicle pull up. Cressman looked out and saw Eric Kramer getting out. Kramer and Kovatto knew each other, and testimony described them as acquaintances who had often argued about money, with recent encounters marked by tension and “nit-picking.”
As Kramer walked up the driveway toward the shed, Kovatto came out. The confrontation was quick and deadly. Cressman stayed inside the shed and heard a brief scuffle, followed by three popping sounds. When he looked out, Kramer was on the ground and Kovatto was standing over him. Cressman then heard another shot and saw a flash of light. Frightened, he ran from the property and into the woods. He later called his girlfriend and told her that “Nicky shot Eric” and that Eric was dead, before 911 was contacted.
Police were sent to the Richlandtown Pike property after emergency calls reported a shooting and named “Nick” as the shooter. Officers arrived to a dark property with little illumination and found Kovatto near the shed. He was directed out, patted down, and seated nearby. During the interaction, he smoked a cigarette and drank a beer. According to the court record, he told officers he did not know why they had been called and said they were not really needed there. After police received information that Kramer’s body was near a shed and that Cressman had witnessed the shooting, Kovatto was handcuffed. Officers then found Kramer lying between two vehicles outside the shed. He was deceased.
The medical evidence was stark. A forensic pathologist determined that Kramer had suffered five gunshot wounds to the head. The shots were fired at close range, from as close as a few inches away to roughly a foot away. The bullets recovered from his head were. 22-caliber rounds, and another bullet was recovered from the collar of his hooded jacket. Investigators also found blood on Kovatto’s right boot, and DNA testing determined that the blood belonged to Kramer.
The investigation continued after Kovatto was taken into custody. A search of his apartment on November 15, 2015, turned up stolen firearms, ammunition including. 22-caliber ammunition matching the type recovered from Kramer’s head, approximately eight grams of methamphetamine, a tally sheet, a digital scale, baggies commonly used to package drugs, and cash. Days later, during a grid search of the Richlandtown Pike property, authorities found a Taurus. 22-caliber revolver buried in the woods under a brick paving stone. The revolver contained seven empty shell casings and two live rounds. Court records noted that the revolver had been stolen from the same residence as one of the handguns found in Kovatto’s apartment.
Kovatto was charged with criminal homicide, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, receiving stolen property, possessing instruments of crime, and prohibited possession of a firearm. Prosecutors argued that the drug and gun evidence helped explain the circumstances around the killing, including a possible motive tied to money disputes. The case went to a five-day jury trial in March 2017.
On March 20, 2017, Nicholas C. Kovatto was found guilty of all counts presented to the jury, and he was also found guilty of the severed firearm-prohibited charge. In May 2017, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 15 to 30 years. Reports on the sentencing described the killing as the shooting death of a friend and said prosecutors told the court Kovatto stood over Kramer while firing multiple times, then drank beer near the body while waiting for police. His appeal challenged parts of the trial, including the handling of gun and drug charges and testimony about his refusal to keep speaking with officers, but the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the judgment of sentence in 2018.
