Kansas City man pleads guilty to murder in arson at 96-year-old’s Caldwell County home
A Kansas City man has pleaded guilty to murder after setting a fire that killed a 96-year-old woman in her Caldwell County home last year.
Harold Edwards Jr., 39, admitted to second-degree murder and other felony crimes during a hearing Tuesday in Caldwell County’s division of the 43rd Judicial Circuit Court. He admitted to killing 96-year-old Lorene Fickess, a stranger to him, who died a few days after celebrating Mother’s Day with her children and grandchildren.
On the morning of May 10, 2022, firefighters were dispatched to a suspicious series of fires in Caldwell County that were reported within a two-hour window. The fires, all of which were later determined to be arson, strained the resources of emergency responders in the rural community that morning.
The first fire was reported around 8:30 a.m. at Fickess’ home near Southwest State Route D and Southwest Colt Drive in Polo, Missouri, a town of about 500 residents, 50 miles northeast of Kansas City. A neighbor tried to enter the house to save Fickess but could not get through the door, authorities said.
The house was fully engulfed by the time firefighters arrived. The woman’s body was later discovered among the rubble.
The other two structure fires were reported along the same rural highway within a six-mile span. The second was roughly three miles north near Mirabile Drive, and the third fire was spotted by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper three miles further north near Kingston.
Both of the houses were vacant. Authorities determined someone broke inside each residence to set the fires.
Witnesses near the Fickess home told police of a brief encounter with a man driving a black SUV.
He had stopped in the road, they said, and asked whether everyone was OK while the fire was still burning. The man, later identified by police as Edwards, drove away but later returned and spoke with one of the witnesses, according to court documents.
Detectives came to suspect the same SUV was at the other two crime scenes based on surveillance footage and witness statements. An anonymous tip later came in where the caller identified Edwards as being responsible for the fires.
A Caldwell County detective obtained a search warrant for Edwards’ cellphone location history. The cellphone was determined to have been at all three locations at the time the fires were set, according to court documents.
During the court hearing Tuesday, prosecutors dropped 13 felony charges against Edwards and agreed to make certain recommendations concerning his sentence in exchange for the guilty plea, according to court records. Circuit Judge Jason A. Kanoy ordered an assessment report be completed before sentencing takes place.
In addition to the murder, Edwards pleaded guilty to three Class D felony counts of possessing images of child sexual abuse.
Authorities have said the images were found on Edwards’ cellphone when he was arrested. There was no apparent connection with the arsons.
Online court records showed no scheduled date for Edwards’ sentencing as of Wednesday.
