First responders work at the scene of a house fire on Garland Street in Edgewood, Pa., on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019. Flames were reported at two homes Saturday afternoon in suburban Edgewood. Emergency officials say one house collapsed and another next door was damaged. Neighbors said relatives of the owners were attending a family wedding. (Christian Snyder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
Republished September 14, 2019 - 8:01 PM
Original Publication Date September 14, 2019 - 3:41 PM
EDGEWOOD, Pa. - A homeowner near Pittsburgh blew up his house on his daughter's wedding day, police said shortly after his body was found in the rubble late Saturday.
The man had been seen standing in front of his house in Edgewood shortly before it exploded and caught fire, authorities said, but for several hours he couldn't be accounted for. His death has been ruled a suicide.
Officials are still investigating the explosion's cause, but "it looks like he disconnected the gas line in the basement of the house," Police Chief Robert Payne said. "And of course, it wouldn't take much of a spark to explode the house."
Most of the family was out of the house at the time for the wedding, officials said.
Police said they had been to the home before for domestic issues relating to mental illness.
A house next door that was damaged by the fire had recently been sold, and officials say a family had been planning to move in soon.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019