UPDATE: 01/16/2017 1:40 PM, Deceased Identified:

The next of kin have now been notified, and the name of the women found in the debris of the house fire at 78 CR 496 can now be provided. All indications are that the deceased woman is 56 year old DONNA LOU ROLLINS of the residence. The fire remains under investigation.

ORIGINAL RELEASE 01/16/2017:

The body of a woman was found inside a home that burned Sunday evening, January 15th, at 78 CR 496.  The 911 Center received a call at 11:14 PM stating that there was a residential structure fire at that address. 

     The Mountain Home Fire Department and assisting Fire Departments from Midway and Clarkridge, as well as Sheriff’s deputies, were dispatched to the address.  A subsequent telephone report at approximately 11:21 PM indicated that the house was nearly burned down and that the homeowner’s car was there.

     Firemen subsequently found the body of a woman inside the burned structure.  Sheriff’s Office Investigators and the Baxter County Coroner were summoned.  The body was removed by the County Coroner and is being sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s Office in Little Rock for autopsy to confirm cause and manner of death. 

     All indications are that the deceased is the woman who resided alone at the residence.  Her identity will not be released until the next of kin have been notified.

     The cause of the fire is currently unknown, and the fire is under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office and Mountain Home Fire Department. 

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff