Dubois County resident presumed to have perished in fire
Update:
The Dubois County Coroner’s Office reported the remains found in the fire were that of a man in his 50s.
According to the report, an anthropologist will be consulted for more information about the deceased.
Previously
A resident is missing after a fire burned his home and barns to the ground in northern Dubois County Saturday.
The Dubois Volunteer Fire Department was called to a report of the multiple structure fire at 9779 North 400E at 3:01 p.m. The residence belongs to Mike Bauer. One of Bauer’s family members called in the fire.
Upon arrival, firefighters found a home and three barn-type structures burned to the ground.
A short time after firefighters arrived on scene, it was brought to their attention that Bauer could not be located. All of his vehicles were at the scene along with all the tractors that Mr. Bauer used on the farm.
Family members who arrived on scene made numerous phone calls to try to account for him to no avail.
During the search and investigation of the residence, investigators searched an area that was believed to be Bauer’s bedroom and found some remains. Those remains could not be identified as human at the scene, according to Dubois Volunteer Fire Department spokesperson Zach Eichmiller.
The remains were taken by the coroner to be examined by a forensic pathologist sometime on Monday.
Sunday morning, units from the fire department were back on the scene with an investigator from the state fire marshal’s office, coroner, and a search team with cadaver dogs from Ohio Valley Search and Rescue. The search dogs did give some signals near the area where the remains were found, Eichmiller said.
Bauer has not come forward at this time and it has been presumed that he perished in the fire.
There were four trucks with thirty firefighters responding to the scene Saturday afternoon. Units were on the scene for about four and a half hours.
It was determined that the fire probably started sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. It appeared to have started at the home and spread to the two nearby building by wind. The reporting of the fire was further hampered by the fact the residence is located in a remote area making it hard for anyone to notice.
The cause of the fire is undetermined at this time.
Fire personnel were assisted on scene by the state fire marshal’s office, Dubois County Coroner, Dubois County Emergency Medical Services and the Dubois County Sheriff’s Department.
