Mark Dooley, a forensics investigator and former captain with the Des Moines Fire Department, took the stand Monday as the trial resumed in the state’s case against Mindy Jo Jones.

Jones, 44, now of Waterloo, also known as Mindy Jo Riley, is charged with first-degree arson and animal abuse causing death in the Feb. 13, 2022, fire.

Prosecutors say Jones was drowning in debt and burned down his store to collect the insurance money.

“There was more than one fire,” Dooley told jurors.

Dooley said one fire started under the sales counter of Tin, Rust and Harmony and another started in a cold air return duct in the back of the store.

“Two separate fires and the fires didn’t communicate together,” he said, indicating they were started separately.

Witnesses previously testified that store staff had reported electrical problems and a possible fire hazard at the counter, and the store’s furnace had recently been installed by an acquaintance of Jones’ as a side job.

Dooley said the forensic examination of the scene was delayed until April, a month after the fire, to allow time for the debris to be removed.

“When the roof and the second floor collapsed, they collapsed on the evidence we want to see on the first floor. So we had to bring in an excavator and work to remove the debris,” Dooley said.

When investigators made it to the first floor, they found charring under the counter. They also recovered electronic items and power outlets from the area and the furnace in the basement and sent the items to a lab for examination.

He noted that some of the items were under recall notices.

Dooley said they have ruled out the meter’s electronics as the source of the fire. For example, the lithium battery for a laptop at the sales station was intact. He said the furnace and basement showed no signs the fire started there.

Also Monday, jurors heard Jones bought the building at 9 Allamakee St. in December 2021 for $62,000 and had a $940,000 insurance policy on the building and the business inside.

Patrick Yates, a claims investigator for State Farm Insurance, said Jones’ last two payments on the first policy were paid with bounced checks.

He said the policy would pay up to $846,000 if she decided to rebuild the location. Cashing out without rebuilding would have paid up to $350,000 plus up to $100,000 for the store’s inventory, with her bank taking the cut first to recover the mortgage.

Buying a different building to relocate his business would have paid up to $846,000.

Yates said Jones filed a claim the day after the fire. Ultimately, it was rejected because the policy does not cover intentional acts, he said.

Yates said Jones owed about $180,000 to Freedom Bank on mortgage and business loans. He said she also reported $4,000 to $5,000 in credit card debt and a car loan.

Jurors also heard that Jones still owed her $461,000 in a Bremer County civil judgment.

Jones also operated an A Tin, Rust and Harmony store in Harmony, Minn., but closed it because it had become stale, Yates said Jones told him. He said she owed about $250,000 on the Minnesota store, which included the original mortgage and repairs for a sewer collapse, and that she was trying to sell the Minnesota store.

As for the Waukon building, Yates said Jones told him he wanted to sell the Allamakee Street location to expand into a larger building, with a price tag of $440,000, he said. Witnesses previously testified that Freedom Bank rejected the offer because it allegedly sold the building on Allamakee Street for $75,000 without paying the rest of the debt.

The state rested on Monday, and the defense is scheduled to begin presenting its witnesses on Tuesday.