In January 2011, Michael Rowe, 52 at the time, allegedly hit his wife multiple times in the head with what his arrest warrant called "intent to murder" and set their Ponderosa Lane house on fire.

His wife, 55-year-old Kathy R. Robinson, died in the incident.

A few weeks after, some residents noted the property's unsightliness and suggested something should be done to prevent loose objects from flying out and kids from getting in.

But for about a year and four months, the house's charred remains appeared just as they had in January 2011. Wooden beams blackened. Rubble strewn into the yard. The scorched, crushed remains of a truck where perhaps a carport once stood.

In June of this year, during a presentation on unkept, unsightly properties around Powder Springs, City Solicitor and Marietta attorney Randall Bentley explained why the Ponderosa Lane property hadn't been cleaned up.

“I know it’s an eyesore, and I know the neighbors have complained as it relates to snakes, I’ve heard,” he told the City Council.

Rowe’s assigned defense attorney, Bentley said, had been permitted to test the property for evidence. That allotted time had ended by June, but the property’s owner, Bank of America, had been “very difficult to deal with,” and the process of getting the company to take care of the house was been drawn-out, he added.

Then, in mid-July, Bank of America finally contracted with B&R Disposal to demolish the structure. If it wasn't for the driveway, someone looking at the property from the road might not be able to tell a house once stood there. 

Community Development Director Pam Conner said she is unaware of what the bank's plans are for the property. 

Rowe remains at the Cobb jail, indicted on on two counts of felony murder, one of aggravated assault, and another of first degree arson, records show.

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