Husband charged with murder in explosion
Police say Kitchener woman was dead before house blew up last year
KITCHENER— The rumours swirled shortly after Edra Haan died in a blast at her Sprucedale Crescent home in Kitchener this summer.
The day after the explosion rocked the Forest Heights neighbourhood on Aug. 22, the coroner said Haan’s death was a homicide. She was found dead in her backyard.
The only other person critically injured in the blast, which also significantly damaged two nearby homes, was her husband, Udo Haan.
At the time, Waterloo Regional Police confirmed they were not looking for any suspects.
Six weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, officers with the major crimes unit arrested 58-year- old Udo Haan at Grand River Hospital. Haan is charged with intentionally killing his wife and deliberately setting fire to their home.
He is charged with first-degree murder, arson with disregard for human life and two counts of arson with damage to property.
“It’s bittersweet,” Edra Haan’s brother Al Pinheiro said on Tuesday.
The family gets closure but news of the charges is still difficult to deal with.
“It’s a two-edged sword,” Pinheiro said.
For the Haans’ two adult children, the charges alleging their father killed their mother are painful as they continue to grieve for their mother.
“You hope the rumours were wrong,” Pinheiro said.
“They lost their mother and now their father has been charged in her death.”
On Tuesday, Insp. Mark Cro- well offered few details on the how the explosion occurred or how Haan was killed except to say she died before the explosion.
“The investigation has revealed that Edra Haan died prior to the explosion,” he said.
Crowell said the first-degree murder charge means Haan “intentionally” killed his wife and the arson charges relate to deliberately causing the explosion.
“Mr. Haan is deemed to be the person responsible for Edra Haan’s death and the cause of the explosion that occurred on Aug. 22,” he said.
Haan was airlifted to a Hamilton hospital in critical condition after the blast and then transferred to Grand River Hospital at the end of last month.
On Tuesday, he appeared by audio in a Kitchener courtroom to face the charges. A publication ban prohibiting evidence from being published or broadcast was requested by his lawyer Steve Gehl.
Haan has another court appearance on Friday.
Crowell said Haan requires an “extended period of medical care.”
Crowell said the investigation was extensive, and involved gathering witness statements and assessing forensic information on the cause of the explosion.
The explosion impacted an entire neighbourhood, bringing people together for a recent gathering where they came remembered to remember Edra and life before the explosion.
That Saturday, they laughed and cried and many of the families in the neighbourhood received benches as symbol of support and unity.
The neighbourhood raised money for the benches and the city matched their contribution.
“This is a dramatic and traumatic circumstance for the entire neighbourhood,” Crowell said.
“There has been a tremendous amount of upheaval and concern over the circumstances,” he said. On Tuesday, many neighbours had heard the news of the charges against Udo Haan but had little to say. There was some relief and a bit of shock, but few were surprised by the murder charge, considering police said they were not searching for any suspects.
The site at 56 Sprucedale Cres. still looks like a bomb hit it. Little restoration or demolition work has been done on the site or the two adjacent homes since the initial cleanup.
Security fencing surrounds all three homes, and a large excavator is on site.
The occasional gawker still drives by the area to look at what’s left.