52 year old Jimmy Ray Steed – who was recently arrested on drug charges – is behind bars at the Calhoun County Jail – meanwhile, authorities are investigating a Tuesday morning fire at Steed’s house on Hughes Road.

According to the website al.com, that blaze erupted at the home shortly after midnight Monday – and Calhoun County Chief Deputy Matthew Wade said it’s not the first house belonging to Steed that has burned.  Investigators received permission to search a former home several years ago but before a search could be conducted, the home burned.

It appears that investigators are interested in more than Steed’s pending charges in relation to the current house – they’re interested in its location in relation to three missing persons cases, still on the books.  The cases include Carla Cook Fuqua, James Patrick Burrows and Steed’s wife, Karen Steed – since all three went missing within a half-mile of the home.

The remains of Carla Cook Fuqua were found December 4th of last year (2012) – within walking distance of Steed’s house.  She had gone missing in October of 2009.

Burrows was reported missing August 21st, 1990, and his motorcycle was found sunken in a bog near a friend’s home more than a year after his disappearance.

Karen Steed was last seen at her home in Piedmont November 23rd, 1997 – her car was found on I-20 in Cleburne County approximately a month later.

Anyone with any information on these cases – or on the fire at Steed’s home – should contact the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office at (256) 236-6600.

Steed is being held on a $100,000 cash bond after his most recent arrest when deputies found two active meth labs and 13 inactive labs at his Hughes Road home.

(al.com/the Anniston Star/www.annistonstar.com)