A Pennsylvania man blew up his house in what appears to be an extravagant suicide on his daughter’s wedding day.
via NYDN:
The man was seen standing outside the home in Edgewood moments before it exploded on Saturday. Most members of the family were out of the house at the time to attend the wedding.
“We came outside to see what was going on, and the house was in flames — still standing — but in flames,” neighbor Donna Antolovich told the Post-Gazette newspaper. “Three to five minutes before the house blew up, the owner was standing in front of it. After that, nobody could find him.”
Edgewood Police Chief Robert Payne said that it looked like the owner disconnected the gas line in the basement.
“And of course, it wouldn’t take much of a spark to explode the house,” he said.
The owner’s body was found in the rubble late Saturday, and his death has been ruled a suicide. Cops had previously been called to the home for domestic issues relating to mental illness.
His cell phone was found on the outside of the windshield of his vehicle, according to the Post-Gazette.
Neighbor Dann Laudermilch said the explosion shook his house “fairly violently.”
“I would say about 60 to 90 seconds after getting out here, the house just collapsed in one large movement with a lot of sound to it,” Laudermilch told the Post-Gazette. “By that time it was fully in flames. It went up in flames remarkably fast. I thought it would take longer to burn, but it was like a minute and a half — it was crazy.”
“A bomb, that is what it sounded like,” neighbor Rochelle Levine told CBS in Pittsburgh.
One injury was reported. A police officer may have broken his wrist while helping fire crews, according to the Post-Gazette.
What a tragic turn events for a wedding day.
