‘It can happen to anybody’: Missouri sheriff says motive unknown in deadly arson fires
After the arrest of a 27-year-old Kansas City man, Caldwell County Sheriff Mitch Allen said Monday that authorities were still investigating what prompted a string of arson fires that happened in the county last month, including one that killed a 96-year-old woman.
“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.”
Harold Edwards Jr. was arrested Friday on charges of arson, burglary and property damage in connection with three suspected arson fires that occurred May 10. He was being held in Caldwell County jail without bond following his arrest in Kansas City.
In one fire, 96-year-old grandmother Loren Fickess was killed just a few days after celebrating Mother’s Day with her kids. Allen said authorities are awaiting results from her autopsy and expect more charges will be filed against Edwards related to her death.
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.
Allen added that the event spurred sorrow and anger among authorities and the Fickess family.
“It scares the public to know that these things do happen. Everybody thinks that doesn’t happen to them, and it can happen to anybody.”
Few additional details were disclosed Monday. Allen declined to discuss at length what led authorities to suspect Edwards of committing the crimes, citing the ongoing investigation. He attributed the arrest, in part, to tips from the public and surveillance camera footage, along with “good old fashioned police work.”
Court records in the case were not immediately available for review, including the statement of probable cause, a document that contains information gathered by investigators and is used in support of criminal charges. The Caldwell County Prosecutor’s Office directed inquiries to the circuit clerk, whose office said the document was unavailable as of Monday afternoon.
It was unclear as of Monday whether an attorney was representing Edwards in the case.
Authorities have said that firefighters responded to a blaze around 8:30 a.m. May 10 at Fickess’ home near Southwest State Route D and Southwest Colt Drive, in rural Polo, Missouri, about 50 miles northeast of Kansas City.
A neighbor had 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. After the blaze was extinguished, firefighters found her body inside the home.
A second fire was reported about 9:40 a.m. at an abandoned house near State Route D and Southwest Mirabile Drive. And 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 had 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. Cronkleton contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 4:17 PM.
