CLAYPOOL — An August house explosion in southwestern Kosciusko County that killed one individual has been determined to be accidental.

Numerous emergency personnel responded to the location of 4678 South, CR 450W, Claypool, on Aug. 25, in regards to a house that had exploded.  Officials arrived and discovered the residence to have been obliterated, with massive destruction. 

One of the home owners, Larry G. Justis, had been dug from the rubble and airlifted to a Fort Wayne hospital in critical condition.  His wife, Kay A. Justis, was located deceased in the debris by fireman and sheriff deputies.  Larry Justis has since been released from Parkview Regional Medical Center, suffering from back injuries. 

Kay Justis was determined to have died from blunt force trauma as a result of the explosion by the Kosciusko County Coroner’s Office.

A joint investigation by the Burket/Seward Township Fire Department, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, and the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office has determined that the explosion was accidental in nature.  There was a reasonable probability that an LP gas leak in, on, or around an LP gas clothes dryer, subsequently ignited during an electrical event in or near an electrical service panel according to evidence.