breaking news
A Whitley County woman is dead today after what officials believe was a meth explosion.
It happened just after 1AM this morning at the
An officer says a strong chemical smell filled the house.
"I got up and came out and came over here and checked on her” says Melissa Roush.
Roush rushed to her neighbor 24-year-old Alecia Stine’s house.
"I tried walking in the door and it was just unbearable. The smell was horrible” says Roush.
Inside, Roush caught a glimpse of Stine.
"She was just lying there” Roush says.
Roush called 9-1-1, but it was too late, an officer found Stine dead on the bedroom floor. Chards of glass flew into her throat, neck and arm. Officials believe the explosion was meth-related.
“I heard a big bang and I wasn't sure what it was…I saw the back door and it was shattered” says neighbor, Aundrea Nicole Lothamer.
Next-door neighbor Anita Egner says "we were sitting there watching TV and we heard something that sounded like maybe a car crash."
Just 10 feet separates Stine's house from Egner's.
"I was really worried. My kids were in the back of our bedroom sleeping and there's two huge propane tanks back there” says Egner.
Egner says she had no idea Egner was producing meth.
"No, no clue. They were a little loud a couple times maybe last week.
I had no idea” says Egner.
Stine lived with her boyfriend, friend and two kids: a boy about 10-years old and a baby girl, less than a year old.
"It upsets me severely because that's just wrong” says Roush.
Roush babysits Stine's little girl.
Roush says she hasn’t noted Stine to have a meth problem.
“No, not with meth. This is like the first time” says Roush.
Many folks drove or walked by Stine's house today only to see police tape, a few kids’ toys lying outside and a cat in search of its owner.
"…making meth…it ruins your life. I'm stunned by it and I don't even know what to say” says Lothamer.
Neighbors tell FOX Fort Wayne that they believe meth problems is a big the area.
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