A 46-year-old woman who lives next door and a 14-year-old boy also were hospitalized.
Advertisement
Law enforcement investigators in Omaha, Neb., look for clues Tuesday, July 26, 2016, at the scene of a house where an explosion took place on Monday, killing a woman, in Omaha.
A report from fire investigators show a tenant moved out of the home on Saturday. Omaha police didn’t return repeated requests for comment Tuesday.
In a report released Wednesday, interim Omaha Fire Chief Dan Olsen said the gas started flowing into the house on Saturday after people moving a clothes dryer didn’t properly shut off a natural gas line to the appliance. The Omaha World-Herald reported Tuesday that the woman was treated and released from a hospital.
After receiving that information, the tenant then notified the property management company of the situation by leaving a voice mail message on Mrs. Bender’s work cell phone late Saturday night.
Aspen said Clara had been working for CPM since November of 2015. “She was just the sweetest person… and the hardest worker”.
Aspen said Bender and her husband Jake both worked at CPM. Aspen said the former tenants had been in the property as recently as the past weekend. He said officials have not given him any indication about whether the explosion was being investigated as a criminal matter. They have a son, Dominic, who Aspen said was 11 or 12 years old. “But just as possible is that there was a gas leak or somebody removed a stove or bumped it on accident or any number of things”. Another family member is also an employee for the company.
Advertisement
Aspen said the GoFundMe page set up for Bender’s family had already surpassed the company’s goal of $10,000.
