Dental records may ID body found in burned Waterloo home

The identity of the body found in the second story of an abandoned house that burned on North Moore Street in Waterloo Wednesday won’t be released until Friday, Police Chief Jim Trantham said.

Trantham confirmed Thursday afternoon the body located in the burned wreckage was that of a man. He could not share any other details about how the man died, because he had not seen Monroe County Coroner Vicki Koerber’s autopsy report.

Koerber could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The body was retrieved shortly after a Waterloo police detective located it in the second story of the home around 3:20 p.m. Wednesday. Trantham said the detective was surveying the scene from above in the bucket of one of the city’s bucket trucks when he made the discovery.

Firefighters initially were dispatched to the home at 1 a.m. Wednesday, controlled the fire and cleared the scene by 4 a.m. Trantham said a hot spot reignited the fire, forcing firefighters to return around 9 a.m. He said he believed the deluge from firefighters’ powerful hoses likely shifted wreckage in the house, making the body visible.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Dental records may ID body found in burned Waterloo home."