Cellphone data used to track suspect in Caldwell County arson fires: court documents
Cellphone location data helped county sheriffs’ offices place a 27-year-old man at the scene of a series of fires around Caldwell County last month, including one that killed a 96-year-old grandmother, according to court documents.
Harold Edwards, Jr. was arrested Friday by the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office on charges of arson, burglary and property damage in connection with three suspected arson fires that occurred May 10. Edwards was held without bond in Caldwell County jail after being arrested in Kansas City.
Sgt. Detective J.C. Kirkendoll of the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Department served a search warrant on Edwards’ service provider, AT&T, which gave the department access to historical placement data on his cellphone.
Location data obtained with the warrant and video surveillance of a black 2019 Ford Escape helped place Edwards at the scene of all three fires, according to the affidavit. Kirkendoll also wrote he believes Edwards started the second and third fires to cover up the initial blaze.
Caldwell County Sheriff Mitch Allen previously declined to give details on how authorities connected Edwards to the fires. During a news conference Monday, he cited public tips, surveillance camera footage and good old fashioned police work” as some of the factors that helped lead to the arrest during a press conference Monday.
Allen also said officials were still investigating what prompted the crimes.
“As I said before, who knows what goes through an arsonist’s mind,” Allen said during an afternoon news conference. “So that’s one of the questions we hope to be answering soon.”
Allen said investigators had found no previous connections between Edwards and Caldwell County that authorities knew of. He also said there was no indication that Edwards knew the victim of the fatal fire.
Three fires
Authorities have said that firefighters responded to a blaze around 8:30 a.m. May 10 at 96-year-old Loren Fickess’ home in rural Polo, Missouri, about 50 miles northeast of Kansas City. A neighbor tried to save her, but the door was too hot and he couldn’t get in. By the time firefighters arrived, the house was engulfed in flames, and firefighters found her body inside after the blaze was put out.
A second fire was reported around 9:40 a.m. at an abandoned house near State Route D and Southwest Mirabile Drive. The third fire was reported about an hour later at an abandoned house about a mile north on Southwest State Route D and State Route HH.
Evidence of arson was found inside all three houses, authorities said. In the days following the fires, the sheriff’s office had posted photos of a black SUV with tinted windows that had been seen near each of the houses at the time of the fires. The sheriff’s office asked for help finding the SUV and its driver.
The Star’s Robert A. Cronketon and Bill Lukitsch contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 1:54 PM.
