The two-story brick house in Clinton had been vacant for two years when the vandalism began. First, a door was busted. Then a window was shattered. Then the air conditioning unit was stolen.

Neighbors tried for months to get the foreclosed house on Student Drive boarded up. Finally, about 6 p.m. New Year’s Day, Leroy Button looked out his window and saw the five-year-old house across the street engulfed in flames — a blaze being investigated as a possible arson. The next morning, all that was left was a charred shell and a sense of frustration.