Man blows up home in apparent suicide
Authorities believe a homeowner ignited an explosion inside his Edgewood house in an apparent suicide, causing the structure to collapse Saturday afternoon, the day of his daughter’s wedding.
Police said the man’s body was found among the rubble at 318 Garland St. late Saturday night. His identity has not been released.
Police and fire units arrived on the scene after a 911 call came in at 2:28 p.m. about the explosion.
Neighbors said the man who owns the home was standing in front of the house shortly before it exploded, Edgewood police Chief Robert Payne said.
“It’s my understanding that his family had a wedding today, and that most of the family was out of the house, but we have witnesses that indicate they saw him near the house just before the explosion,” Chief Payne said.
After the fire had been extinguished, heavy equipment was brought in to sift through the
rubble as authorities searched for the man. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette news partner KDKA-TV reported that the man’s body was found late Saturday night and that police believe he intentionally set the explosion as a means to kill himself.
What is believed to be the homeowner’s cell phone was found resting on the outside of the windshield of his SUV, which was parked on the street nearby, “which is kind of odd, and so that troubles us,” Chief Payne said earlier in the day.
The Allegheny County homicide unit and fire marshal were called to the scene to investigate.
The chief said police had been called to the house multiple times previous to Saturday’s explosion. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the previous visits to the home.
Chief Payne initially deemed the fire suspicious because there was “no reason for this particular house to go up. There’s no gas issues here. We’ve been here before, we know who this gentleman is, and I’ll leave it at that.”
The homeowner’s family could not be reached Saturday.
Donna Antolovich, who lives on the street, said she felt the explosion rock her house and went to see what had happened.
“We came outside to see what was going on, and the house was in flames — still standing — but in flames,” she said. “Three to five minutes before the house blew up, the owner was standing in front of it. After that, nobody could find him.”
Dann Laudermilch, 35, who lives a few houses away, said he was working in his home when an explosion shook his house “fairly violently.” He went outside where he saw another neighbor, Susan Irons, trying to get the attention of anyone inside the home by yelling, but no one responded to her.
“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,” Mr. Laudermilch said. “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.”
The only injury reported, Chief Payne said, was an Edgewood police officer who likely broke his wrist while assisting fire crews was taken to Forbes Regional Hospital.
A house next door to 318 Garland was also damaged. It had just been sold, and a young couple was about to move in any day.