Johnson County, Missouri firefighters looking for arsonist in 4-year-old cold case

LEETON, Mo. — July 5 and 6 of 2020 were sad days in Johnson County, Missouri. The historic Harmony Baptist Church north of the city burned to the ground after somebody set fire to it .

All that’s left at the former site, near SE 251st Road and Route PP, is the sign that was in front of the church. Trees have been planted where the building was.

Just before 11:30 p.m. on July 5, 2020 was when the first call came in for a fire at the church, according to Johnson County, Missouri Fire Protection District Captain Joe Jennings. The building burned to the ground. Investigators believe the fire was intentionally set.

“It was on a Sunday night, late, and my dad called me and was crying and said, ‘Honey our little church is burning up,'” Johnson County, Missouri resident Tonia Arwood said in an interview with FOX4 Friday. “I live right down the road, so I got up, and I looked outside my east window, and I could see the glow from my house.”

Arwood, Jennings, and his father, Johnson County, Missouri Fire Protection Chief Larry Jennings, all came to the intersection Friday. The district has pictures of the man they believe caused this four years ago. He’s never been charged though. Joe and Larry say the statute of limitations for Arson in the Second Degree in Missouri’s five years.

“We’re at that fourth anniversary, so we have one year, 365 days from today to get this thing wrapped up and get this person held accountable,” Chief Jennings said in an interview with FOX4 Friday.

Arwood says the church was a central location for people who lived between Leeton and Warrensburg. She went there from the time she was born to the time it burned down. Her parents were married there, and so was she.

“I lost my father last year. This church burning down was a big deal for him,” Arwood said when asked how badly she’d like for the man responsible for the fire to be held accountable. “I mean he’d grown up in this church, and he was very loyal and dedicated to this church, and I really really wanted us to find somebody before he died. Too many people in the community say things and hear things, and it’s a small community. We are fairly certain people know.”

Nobody was hurt that night or the morning of July 6, but if you have any information, you can call the Missouri Arson Hotline at 1-800-39-ARSON or 1-800-392-7766.

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