COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Police say a Council Bluffs man who went missing died in a New Year's Eve fire in southwest Iowa.
The Daily Nonpareil in Council Bluffs reports that 26-year-old Travis Bach disappeared around the time of the house fire near an Iowa Highway 370 bridge in Mills County.
Council Bluffs police Sgt. Chad Meyers says authorities believed from the outset that remains found at the scene were Bach's, but DNA tests were inconclusive. Meyers described the home as a "hoarder's house," full of items that made the fire burn hotter and longer than usual.
Police say Bach and the home's owner were acquaintances, and a car found at the scene was one that he had borrowed. The cause of death will be listed as accidental.
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