Breaking News Update

Council Bluffs Man Killed in House Fire

Wife Granted Restraining Order

CREATED Feb. 25, 2013

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  • Body Found in Charred Council Bluffs Home Video by kmtv.com

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Council Bluffs, IA - Council Bluffs police and firefighters wrapped crime tape around a home at 46 Norwood Drive Monday night, after firefighters found a man's body inside the house.  The man has been identified as 43-year-old Mark Vanderwoude.  

Neighbors tell KMTV Action 3 News Vanderwoude and his wife have been going through a divorce. A protection order issued in September shows Lori Vanderwoude claimed her husband "tried to run her off the road several times" and sent threatening text messages such as "an eye for an eye" and "let beatings begin".  In the court documents, she describes her husband as bi-polar.

Neighbors say they saw Vanderwoude crash his truck into the garage door before the fire started. Firefighters later moved the truck to the curb and towed it from the scene.  Another neighbor said Lori Vanderwoude recently installed a security alarm in her home and asked two neighbors to allow her to have security cameras installed on their homes to record activity outside her home.

The Council Bluffs Fire Department says an accelerant may have been used to start the fire.  They call the fire suspicious, due to other incidents at the home.