Indiana Explosion Now a Homicide Investigation

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**Ahtman**

Article

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Authorities launched a homicide investigation Monday into the house explosion that killed two people and left numerous homes uninhabitable in an Indianapolis neighborhood.

Indianapolis Homeland Security Director Gary [see forum posting rules] made the announcement after meeting with residents affected by the Nov. 10 blast and just hours after a funeral for the husband and wife who were killed. The couple lived next door to the house where investigators believe the explosion occurred.

"We are turning this into a criminal homicide investigation," [see forum posting rules] said, marking the first time investigators have acknowledged a possible criminal element to the case.

Search warrants have been executed and officials are now looking for a white van that was seen in the subdivision the day of the blast, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said. Federal authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information in the case.

Curry said the investigation is aimed at "determining if there are individuals who may be responsible for this explosion and fire," but neither he nor [see forum posting rules] took questions or indicated if investigators had any suspects.

Officials have said they believe natural gas was involved in the explosion, which destroyed five homes and left dozens damaged, some heavily. Investigators have been focusing on appliances as they search for a cause of the explosion, which caused an estimated $4.4 million in damage.

"We thought something like this was not just an accident," said Doug Aldridge, who heads the neighborhood Crime Watch.

Aldridge said he and other residents frequently saw a white van parked outside the home, though he didn't know who owned it. He said residents were angry and upset, but he expects most of them to stay in the neighborhood.

The plot thickens...

**Kanluwen**

Oh word filter.

You made this article unintentionally hilarious.

The plot definitely has thickened though. Makes you wonder what was going on.

**Ouze**

Kanluwen wrote:
Oh word filter.

You made this article unintentionally hilarious.

Exalted, my man.

**Grey Templar**

Somehow, just looking at the explosion makes you think it could not have been faulty equipment.

This house didn't just have an explosion inside it, it had an explosion that made the house go away.

Like when Mythbusters blew up the Dumptruck. They didn't blow it up, they made it disappear.

Gas leaks almost always result in a fire. And any explosion is small and localized. Its quite hard to actually get the proper air mix for an explosion. A fire definitely.

Ouze wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
Oh word filter.

You made this article unintentionally hilarious.

Exalted, my man.

Thirded

**Snrub**

Wait was the couple in the house that blew up or the house next door??

Kanluwen wrote:
Oh word filter.

You made this article unintentionally hilarious.

For making me chuckle i too have exalted that post.
Out of interest what did the filter pick up? Being a news report i doubt they would have swear words in it.

**azazel the cat**

Article says the deceased were in one of the adjacent homes to the explod-o-home

**rubiksnoob**

This is truly terrible, but I can't wipe the smirk off my face.

**azazel the cat**

Why?

**DeathReaper**

azazel the cat wrote:
Why?

Because the language filter edited out Director koon's name.
That is why i can't wipe the smirk off my face.

But that explosion was insane.

**KalashnikovMarine**

*snicker* Thank you language filter, for this comedic gift in the midst of what is turning into a fascinating case.

**Snrub**

azazel the cat wrote:
Article says the deceased were in one of the adjacent homes to the explod-o-home

Yeah thats what i thought i read. So was the explosion meant to kill the people in the adjacent house or was it meant for someone else who wasn't home? Because blowing up another house and hoping the people you want to kill in the house next door die is a pretty hit n miss way to commit a murder.

DeathReaper wrote:
azazel the cat wrote:
Why?
Because the language filter edited out Director koon's name.

Ah.. that answers my other question.

**azazel the cat**

Snrub wrote:
azazel the cat wrote:
Article says the deceased were in one of the adjacent homes to the explod-o-home
Yeah thats what i thought i read. So was the explosion meant to kill the people in the adjacent house or was it meant for someone else who wasn't home? Because blowing up another house and hoping the people you want to kill in the house next door die is a pretty hit n miss way to commit a murder.

DeathReaper wrote:
azazel the cat wrote:
Why?
Because the language filter edited out Director koon's name.
Ah.. that answers my other question.

If there was a target, it was likely someone who was expected to be in the central home.

As to the murder charge, it doesn't matter who the bullet actually hits... the murderous action is pulling the trigger with premediation to kill.

**Lordhat**

I could have been an arson gone wrong, which would result in a murder investigation if people died (which they did).

**Grey Templar**

IDk, the chance of a random arsonist managing to cause an explosion like that is low.

That explosion was more like a bomb then something an arsonist would do.

**KalashnikovMarine**

Yeah but an accidental gas explosion after mentioning there'd been issues with the furnace? Hello insurance fraud!

OR!

It was an actual murder attempt that got klutz'd up by the murderer... something something methlab.

**Grey Templar**

That'd have to be once heck of a Methlab.

**Frazzled**

Grey Templar wrote:
Somehow, just looking at the explosion makes you think it could not have been faulty equipment.

This house didn't just have an explosion inside it, it had an explosion that made the house go away.

Like when Mythbusters blew up the Dumptruck. They didn't blow it up, they made it disappear.

Gas leaks almost always result in a fire. And any explosion is small and localized. Its quite hard to actually get the proper air mix for an explosion. A fire definitely.

Ouze wrote:
Kanluwen wrote:
Oh word filter.

You made this article unintentionally hilarious.

Exalted, my man.

Thirded

Lethal Weapon XI! Send in Riggs and Murdoch!

**Ensis Ferrae**

KalashnikovMarine wrote:
Yeah but an accidental gas explosion after mentioning there'd been issues with the furnace? Hello insurance fraud!

OR!

It was an actual murder attempt that got klutz'd up by the murderer... something something methlab.

Except that in the original article, from the earlier thread, investigators already ruled out meth lab gone bad.

**Ahtman**

I doubt we are dealing with Bond level villains here, and they didn't calculate the amount of natural gas that would escape from a leak and how large the ensuing would be.

I think the people who owned (co-owned according to the article) the house that exploded are being looked at because they boarded their cat up when they went to the casino that weekend, which isn't something they had done before when they went to the casino for the weekend. The last part was relayed to me second hand, but as I understand it, was part of what made the investigators suspicious.

**LordofHats**

You think they wanted to destroy their own home for the money and it went horribly wrong?

**Ahtman**

LordofHats wrote:
You think they wanted to destroy their own home for the money and it went horribly wrong?

I meant to say that I think it is a possibility; I'm not really sure what exactly happened, obliviously.

**LordofHats**

Yeah that's what I was asking sorry XD Didn't mean it as a 'You think that' more of a 'you think maybe."

**Grey Templar**

I don't think an explosion of that size is capable with gas in a house. The fuel air mixture is going to be nearly impossable to achieve.

It had to be a bomb of some kind.

**Squigsquasher**

Expect a thousand videos to be posted on YouTube about how God did it and this is proof that 2012 is the end of the world.

Anyway, drama! Woogie woogie woogie!

**juraigamer**

Not only was it an explosive plot, but now it thickens!

**AustonT**

Grey Templar wrote:
I don't think an explosion of that size is capable with gas in a house. The fuel air mixture is going to be nearly impossable to achieve.

It had to be a bomb of some kind.

I think you're wrong. Given enough time I can dig up hundreds of these, gas explosions in houses are not trivial.

**Ouze**

Awesome picture.

**Ahtman**

I guess they found the white van and it traces back to the boyfriend of the woman who lived in the house and is going through a messy divorce or something. This is turning out to be quite the sordid affair.

**Ensis Ferrae**

Ahtman wrote:
I guess they found the white van and it traces back to the boyfriend of the woman who lived in the house and is going through a messy divorce or something. This is turning out to be quite the sordid affair.

Was the boyfriend also a general??