A man is killed by an explosive device in his home On a spring day in May of 1990, a trip to a familiar hunting lodge in Wythe County, Virginia, ended in tragedy for 63-year-old Charlie Matney, a male resident of Jolo, West Virginia. Matney, a well driller, had traveled to the trailer located in Deer Trail Park, which he used as a base for hunting and for storage. A neighbor, Melvin Rowe, had driven him to the property and remained in his pickup truck as Matney went inside the trailer, which was reportedly unlocked.
Shortly after Matney
entered the mobile home, a powerful explosion tore through the structure. The blast was so significant that it blew out a window of the nearby pickup truck where Rowe was waiting, though he escaped injury. For Matney, however, the explosion was fatal. Investigators later determined that the blast was caused by a commercially produced explosive, with one report specifying it as liquid dynamite. The medical examiner's autopsy suggested that Matney had likely picked up the explosive device when it detonated.
The Virginia State Police launched an extensive investigation into Matney's death, questioning over 25 individuals in both Virginia and West Virginia. Despite their efforts, the case remained shrouded in mystery. Law enforcement officials were unable to definitively determine whether the act was a homicide or a tragic accident. They were able to identify the manufacturer of the explosive, but this lead did not yield any significant breakthroughs in the case. As the investigation continued, no suspects were publicly identified, and no arrests were made in connection with the fatal explosion. The question of how the explosive device came to be in the trailer and the ultimate reason for the deadly blast remained unanswered.
