A woman's body is found at a refuge three days after her home is set on fire In September of 2011, a quiet street in Searcy, Arkansas, became the scene of a grim mystery that began with a house fire and ended with the discovery of a murdered woman. On September 14th, firefighters were called to 123 Town & Country Lane, the residence of 46-year-old Kimberly Steele. They determined the fire had been intentionally set in multiple locations within the home. Tragically, Steele's two dogs perished in the blaze.
Of Kimberly, however, there was no sign.
Concern for Steele grew when her parents, unable to reach her for two days, officially reported her missing on September 15th. Witnesses near her home recalled seeing a small blue car leaving her residence shortly before the fire was discovered, a detail that provided a sliver of a lead in what was quickly becoming a troubling case. The search for the missing woman came to a devastating end that same day.
Kimberly Steele’s body was found in a remote area of Prairie County, at the Wattensaw Wildlife Management Area. The condition of her remains told a horrific story; she had been shot in the head, and her body had been set on fire. The Arkansas State Medical Examiner would later confirm that the gunshot wound was the cause of her death, ruling it a homicide. Despite the horrific nature of the crime, no arrests have ever been made in connection with the murder of Kimberly Steele. Her case remains an unsolved homicide, a cold case with the White County Sheriff's Office.
