Titonka, IA- Tonight an area man is dealing with the loss of his mom after she is found dead inside her home.
 
From the outside of Donna Dreesman’s house everything looks perfect fine, but inside her Titonka home on Sunday, something went terribly wrong.

"At first I didn't believe it. I was in denial," said step-granddaughter Bethany Wegner.

One woman living next door says her neighbor's son came running over screaming, "My mom's dead." They then called 9-1-1. Inside neighbors say authorities found a fire that had already put itself out, and the body of Donna Dreesman.

"He told me that she'd died. I broke down crying. She treated me like part of the family," said Wegner.

Wegner and many others we talked to describe Dreesman as happy and loving. The widow played the organ at her church, and gave a lot of her time to community service.

"If anyone needed help she'd be willing to help them. She did her best she could for everyone," said Wegner.
     
Now the State Fire Marshall is trying to figure out what started the fire. It’s likely those flames and smoke that took the life of a woman cared about by so many people.  

"I'm going to miss her because she was nice. She was always a lot of fun to hang around," said Wegner.
 
Dreesman's son Jerry says he is getting a lot of support from the community. He also says his mom was a smoker, and he suspects that a cigarette may be to blame for the fire.

The Kossuth County Sheriff says the state is performing an autopsy to figure out the exact cause of death. The State Fire Marshall's office tells us they do not suspect foul play. However, they are not ruling anything out at this time.