RICHMOND – Arson fires, one deadly, lit up social media after occurring in two nearby communities – Polo to the north and Lexington to the south of Richmond.

The Lexington fire Wednesday followed three Polo-area fires Tuesday, one of which claimed the life of 96-year-old Lorene Fickess, whose house at 5050 S.W. State Route D burned to the ground. The Missouri Highway Patrol, Missouri Fire Marshal’s Office and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the Polo-area fires.

Whether the Polo and Lexington fires are connected remained in doubt at press time.

“There is nothing showing they’re in any way connected,” Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers said Wednesday.

Lexington Police Department gave a “no comment” to all questions about the Lexington fire.

A bit more information came from Lexington Fire and Rescue Department.

“It was reported that the vehicle leaving the scene matched the vehicle involved in the multiple arson fires in the Polo area yesterday,” the department reported on Facebook.

Childers said his statement about the lack of a connection between the Lexington and Polo fires followed his discussion with a primary source for the Polo fire information, Caldwell County Sheriff Mitchell Allen.

From Allen, Childers said he received a description of a “vehicle of interest” – a black Dodge Caliber with tinted windows and possibly a black, male driver.

No other vehicle has been identified accurately in connection with the fires, though social media has given descriptions of another vehicle, Childers said.

“Facebook had on there that it was like a Nissan Maxima with a broken window – none of that was true,” he said. “We were chasing ghosts all yesterday. Everybody kept seeing that Maxima with the broken-out window.”

Ray County deputies patrolled the area around the county line in search of the black Caliber, Childers said.

“This car should be distinctive,” having been made only from 2006 to 2011, he said.

The structure that burned beside Highway 224 west of Lexington did not have an occupant, he said.

“It was an abandoned building,” Childers said.

The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office asked anyone with information to call 816-586-2681.