By Cindi Lash
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2006 P.G. Publishing Co.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. - Distraught over personal problems, Patrick Henry uncoupled a natural gas line in his basement and lay down to die, triggering the explosion that injured him and four other people, leveled his house and destroyed at least two others, investigators said.
Mr. Henry, 30, told friends in recent days that he’d been thinking about harming himself, New Castle Police Chief Thomas Sansone said yesterday. Investigators now believe that Mr. Henry disconnected a gas line leading to an appliance and stuffed towels under doors and windows in an effort to kill himself by inhaling gas, the chief said.
Mr. Henry did not die in the explosion but he was critically injured and burned when he was hurled from his bed and into the front yard of his rented house at 833 Franklin Ave.
A couple who worked with Mr. Henry, and who came to his house because they feared he’d hurt himself, and two of Mr. Henry’s neighbors also were injured in the blast Monday afternoon.
State police fire marshals yesterday ruled the explosion and the fire it ignited in a house next door to be the results of arson after poring for hours over still-smoldering debris that collapsed into the foundation of Mr. Henry’s house. They also hauled away the twisted, charred remains of his furnace, water heater, washer, dryer and other gas-fueled appliances and pipes for additional testing.
Bolstering their conclusion were statements from Jared Baker, 30, of New Castle, who told police that he and his wife, Sophia, 21, saw towels and cloth stuffed under doors and windows while they were knocking and trying to contact Mr. Henry, Chief Sansone said.
Moments later, the house blew up, throwing the Bakers into an adjacent alley and igniting a fire that spread to the house next door at 831 Franklin. The blast also destroyed the home on the other side and heavily damaged others.
“He’d made comments ... to make them believe there was reason for them to be concerned about him’’ Chief Sansone said.
Almost immediately after the blast, authorities said they suspected it had been caused by natural gas. Officials at Columbia Gas yesterday said their crews found no leaks in the main gas line in the neighborhood or in the line to Mr. Henry’s house.
Mr. Henry was in critical condition and Mr. Baker was in fair condition last night at Mercy Hospital. Mrs. Baker was at West Penn Hospital, where officials declined to release information about her condition. Two other neighbors were treated for minor injuries Monday at Jameson Hospital in New Castle.
Chief Sansone said investigators haven’t determined why Mr. Henry had been so upset. He’d moved into the rented house in June, following his release in 2005 from the state prison system, where he served six years of a six-to-12-year sentence for a robbery conviction in Mercer County.
Neighbors said they didn’t know him well but said he was employed at a factory in New Castle, where police said the Bakers also work.
Investigators believe that Mr. Henry intended to die by breathing gas and did not intend to cause an explosion.
“There’s no indication he wanted to hurt anyone else,’' the chief said.
Police have not been able to question Mr. Henry. But if he survives, he will be charged with numerous offenses, Chief Sansone said.
The news that police now held her next-door neighbor accountable for the destruction of her home of 36 years caused Catherine Frengel to drop the sooty beige pumps she’d just retrieved and burst into tears.
“Now what happens?” she sobbed. “He was such a nice guy. Why would he do that?”
Ms. Frengel and her husband, William Hruska, had taken a brief weekend trip to Atlantic City and were not home Monday. They flew back after friends reached them with the news that the explosion had heavily damaged their white frame house at 831 Franklin and smashed most of the contents. New Castle officials said her house and two others would have to be demolished.