One woman dead after meth explosion

COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (WANE) - Police are investigating a fatal explosion just east of Columbia City.

According to the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, a loud bang was reported just after 1 a.m. Friday at lot 65 of the Miami Village Mobile Home Park on East Old Trail Road.

When Deputy Jason Spencer first arrived, he entered the residence and detected a strong chemical odor. He also found Alecia L. Stine, 24, dead on the master bedroom floor.

The preliminary investigation shows there was some kind of chemical explosion which occurred in or near a glass container. That explosion threw shards of glass into the air hitting Stine in the throat, neck and arm. She also had chemical burns to her face.

Deputy Spencer was taken to the hospital after he complained that the chemical smell was causing him to have trouble breathing. He has since been treated and released.

The Union Township Volunteer Fire Department also responded, but there was never an actual fire.

Investigators also said they have removed many meth making materials from the home. One of the officers at the scene said there was a one-pot method meth lab inside.

"When a one-pot method is cooking the pressure there is pressure that is generated. If that pressure isn't released in the container, the pressure can become enough to where it will explode," Whitley County Sheriff Mark Hodges said.

The Union Township Volunteer Fire Department tells us despite the explosion, there was no fire in the home.

State Police and Whitley County Sheriff’s Department were also all on the scene.

An autopsy on Stine will be scheduled for an exact cause of death. When that will happen hasn't been released yet.

Hodges said his department is still investigating the meth lab and he doesn't know yet if anyone else may have been involved. No one else has been charged with anything in relation to this lab.

Ginger Rex lives just a few feet away in the mobile home next door.

"It was quite scary, really, considering how close it was and close we live together," Rex said. "It's scary. Not only what she was doing, but the strangers that could have come in and out and having children close by."

Neighbors told NewsChannel 15 Stine had just moved to the neighborhood about a month ago. They didn't know her very well but think she had a son.

"A guy was there a lot and I think they had a child. I've seen them a couple times but I never thought that was going on in there," Kyle Enger said.

Enger lives next door.

"We were sitting watching TV and something went boom,"  he said. "I was very surprised. My kids were in the back room sleeping when it happened. I was pretty concerned."

Some neighbors noticed a lot of people coming and going from the home.

"There were a lot of different people, men, and people in and out," Rex said. "She was always gone or if she was home, the music was up at weird hours of the night."

Tammy Poling just moved into the mobile home across the street from the meth lab two weeks ago.

"I'm just now meeting neighbors. Everyone's coming out and we're all in shock," Poling said. "People come and go and you think nothing of it and to find out something like that. That's nuts."

While she said a meth lab just a few feet away is scary, she doesn't plan on moving again.

"I think we'll still be happy here. One person doesn't ruin the whole thing," Poling said.

This is at least the second meth lab police found in Whitley County in the past few weeks.

"We've found a couple mobile meth labs, which are in vehicles or being transported in some way," Hodges said.

No one was hurt in those lab discoveries. The one-pot method is making it harder for police to find the labs.

"The one-pot method makes it very easy to cook it. It's a simple recipe and the changes of getting detected are reduced because it's smaller and gives off less chemical smell. But, they are very volatile and very explosive, similar to the incident here today," Sgt. Michael Toles with the Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Section said.

Indiana is in the top five states for number of meth labs. Last year the state had more than 1,300 labs and Toles expects that number to be higher in 2010.

"Our research shows one cook teaches ten others how to do it. That's our first battle. We are in reaction mode. Detectives with the Meth Suppression Section spend 95 percent of their time reacting to meth labs rather than proactively finding them because we can't keep up," Toles said.

The public can help police by reporting any suspicious behavior, chemical smells or if a neighbor or someone they know starts changing their habits are doing things more secretively.