Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty says the State Medical Examiner’s Office has positively identified the victim of the March 16th house fire about a mile and a half southeast of Colfax…as the man who was living there. The confirmation came this morning that the body found in the burned 23-hundred square foot, 5 bedroom home was 64 year old Dale Albert Schmidt. Schmidt’s identification was made through DNA matching. Sheriff Halferty notes the cause of the fire has yet to be determined…as the investigation into that is still ongoing. Firefighters from
Baxter, Knoxville, Mingo, Mitchellville, Monroe, Newton, and Prairie City responded to the fire at 8858 South 52nd Avenue West at approximately 10:43 that Saturday night after Jasper County Communications received a 911 call about the fire. The House was fully involved with flames when firefighters arrived. As they worked to put out the fire, they learned a person was believed to be inside. But due to the intensity of the flames, there was little that could be done. Search and recovery for the individual continued through the night and into the next morning. Schmidt’s body was then located in the basement around 10:45 Sunday morning March 17th. Officials said the process of finding his body was slowed due to the heat of the fire and removal of debris by heavy equipment.
