Investigators say arson may be to blame for Monday’s explosion and fire that killed a Council Bluffs woman in her mobile home. Police Sergeant Chad Meyers says fire crews were called to the trailer at the Bluffs Acres subdivision about 10 AM.
“They arrived, put the fire out and discovered the body of a female in one of the bedrooms,” Meyers says. The victim is identified as 41-year-old Connie Ayers, who lived in the trailer with her husband, who was at work.
The explosion blew out the mobile home’s windows and buckled the structure, and Meyers says the resulting fire fully engulfed everything. “It wasn’t in any one particular area,” he says. “The fire was spread throughout the trailer.”
Investigators say the cause of the blaze may be arson but won’t elaborate on why that’s the case. “The fire itself is suspicious in nature,” Meyers says. “We’re still investigating it.”
Reports quote a neighbor who says the victim’s car was in the trailer’s driveway about a half-hour before the fire. The vehicle was gone when the fire was discovered. It was found elsewhere in the mobile home community, about a block away.