Police Investigate Suspicious Death In Taneytown
TANEYTOWN, Md. (WJZ)—A man is killed by an explosion. His neighbors are evacuated after concern there could be another blast.
Suzanne Collins has more on the bizarre series of events taking place in Carroll County.
Late Saturday, WJZ learned the victim was having health and money troubles that may have prompted the explosion.
A hole was blown through the front of the townhouse owned by Carey Landskroner. Neighbors tried to peek through that hole after not seeing him since Wednesday.
"We noticed the siding, noticed no movement in house or seen him around or anything so I went and got [our] neighbor Andy and that's when it was all found," said Karen Gibson.
Finally they moved aside a blind from his window and saw the 44-year-old obviously injured and apparently dead inside.
"There were actually pieces of what appeared to be metal pipe that were taken out of these holes and also in the autopsy today [were] found in this individual's body," said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police.
Police feared there may be more bombs. Twenty-five neighbors were evacuated for more than five hours while the bomb squad checked, but they found nothing. Neighbors then recalled they'd heard an explosion a few days before.
"It was Wednesday night and we just heard a huge bang and the storms were happening so we thought something blew over or the thunder or something," Emily Brown said.
Neighbors say Landskroner had been in the military and they wonder if he had knowledge of bomb making. They say he worked in manufacturing but lost his job when he had a stroke a few years ago.
Neighbors say his left side was limp and he had trouble speaking. Court records say Landskroner was on a fixed income and his house was up for sale.
"He was recovering from that, having difficulty dealing with things, and wasn't getting psychiatric needs met," said one neighbor.
The medical examiner says the cause of death was trauma from an explosive-like force.
The medical examiner believes the death is an accident or possibly a suicide.
