Sheriff: 5 blasts rocked Door County, criminals not ruled out
From startribune.com
ELLISON BAY, Wis. — The Door County Sheriff said it was five blasts, not three, that rocked a resort town earlier this month and investigators haven’t ruled out a criminal act as the cause.
Sheriff Terry Vogel also said this week that 12 people were injured, besides the Michigan couple that was killed, when the blasts rocked the resort town of Ellison Bay on July 10.
Authorities had remained tightlipped while investigating the explosions but this week revealed more information now that the physical part of the investigation is over.
Vogel said though early reports dismissed the idea that the explosions had been intentionally set off, investigators are leaving open the possibility of criminal culpability.
“There’s a number of options for crime, which can be a malicious act or a great degree of negligence,” he said. “Those things have to be determined yet, and it’s going to be weeks or months before the district attorney makes a determination.”
Vogel had held a handful of news conferences in the days following the explosions but he kept them short and released limited information. That was because his department was treating the disaster scene as a crime scene, he said.
Had police released too much information earlier, that might have influenced the answers of people being questioned in the case, he said.
The series of blasts, which occurred in the early morning of July 10, destroyed a the 136-year-old Pioneer Store and two buildings within the complex known as the Cedar Grove Resort. Two other buildings nearby sustained minor damage from smaller, separate blasts, Vogel said.
Killed in the explosions were Patrick M. Higdon, 49, and Margaret Brooks Higdon, 45, of Bloomfield, Hills, Mich. They were staying in a duplex while on vacation with other family members, including three children, two of whom were seriously injured, authorities said. Margaret Higdon’s parents were also injured. A total of 11 people staying in the duplex were injured, including Carol Newman, 68, the owner of the Pioneer Store, the town’s only grocery store.
The air of secrecy had frustrated some members of the media, especially on July 15 when Gov. Jim Doyle toured the disaster scene. A TV cameraman was thrown out of the tour when he violated sheriff’s department orders to point his camera only at Doyle.
Vogel declined to comment on that incident.
He also declined to confirm what other officials have reported, that the leak was from propane. Vogel said investigators feel fairly confident they know what the leak was. But he said they are still looking into what might have ignited the fuel to cause the explosions.
Insurance companies representing property owners and the injured are taking over the investigation of the disaster scene on behalf of their private interests.
The official probe will shift its focus to interviewing people who were sleeping in nearby cabins and condominiums at the time but have since returned to their homes in various parts of the country, Vogel said, noting that could take one to two months.
Investigators will also examine documents describing utility work and other activities going on in the area prior to the explosions. Vogel wouldn’t elaborate, but other officials suggested earlier that a subcontractor running electricity conduit under a local road pierced a propane line.
Vogel said investigators also plan to consult with a geologist to see whether the cracked limestone bedrock and shallow soil of the area played a role. Some experts already said the geological structure might have conveyed leaking propane to areas far from the severed pipe, which would have contributed to the leapfrog nature of the explosions.