A newlywed couple’s house exploded while they were celebrating their wedding vows nearby—a stunning turn of events caused by one of their guests, whose body was discovered in the smoldering debris.
House explodes during wedding
Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos had just exchanged vows the day after Valentine’s Day when their residence in Cicero, a Chicago suburb, was obliterated in an intense explosion.
The couple, who didn’t yet have home insurance in place, were left without shelter following the devastating incident, as reported by ABC 7 Chicago.
The bride recounted the moment to WGNTV, saying, “I ran here in my wedding dress, like down the alley, and was watching from a neighbor’s yard,” after hearing of the explosion just after the ceremony concluded.
“Everything was just smoke at that point,” she added, describing the destruction.
The lifeless body located in the wreckage was later identified as 31-year-old Anthony Avila-Puebla, who authorities pinned as the cause of the catastrophic explosion.
The suspect, an attendee at the wedding, was reportedly linked to someone who lived in the house, according to police.
Although officials didn’t specify their relationship, they revealed that Avila-Puebla quietly exited the ceremony and was seen parking his car down the street from the newlyweds’ residence.
Arson suspect leaves wedding to start fire
Law enforcement revealed Avila-Puebla took out a five-gallon container holding a flammable liquid from his vehicle and brought it inside the home.
Surveillance footage, cited by Fox 32 News, depicted him leaving the premises with an empty container, returning twice more to retrieve multiple additional jugs of liquid.
Moments after this series of trips, an enormous explosion engulfed the house in flames.
Authorities noted that Avila-Puebla was never seen exiting the building once the fire began raging uncontrollably.
The blaze didn’t stop there—it caused collateral damage to a neighboring building, while a third structure nearby sustained minor harm.
The disaster displaced 11 households in total, and emergency agencies, including the Red Cross and the Town of Cicero, have stepped in to provide temporary accommodations for the impacted families, per Fox News.
No one else was inside the residence during the blast described, except for six cats that tragically died in the catastrophic inferno.
Family pets die as house explodes
Vrettos expressed heartache for the loss of her feline companions, whom she regarded as family.
“They were the perfect little bunch, like they all got along. I thought I would have them for years, they were all much younger, and they were my home I would say. So now I don’t have a home, and on top of it, I don’t have them as my home,” she said solemnly.
“That’s the most devastating because they’re the ones that give me the comfort through that darkness. My dad passed away a few years ago so we don’t have the home as a remembrance of him, too. It’s a lot to grieve,” Vrettos added.
According to WGN9, the newlyweds had recently taken ownership of the home alongside Vrettos’ brother.
The property, originally under their mother’s name for nearly 40 years, became their project to renovate and modernize.
The siblings had already poured significant effort—and finances—into its improvement, including major structural upgrades like a new roof and interior support beams over the summer.
However, the property lacked insurance at the time of the explosion, leaving them vulnerable to the financial aftermath.
While in the process of transferring ownership, they had not yet completed securing coverage.
Reflecting on this, Vrettos commented, “Recently, my brother and I had transferred the home ownership from our mom to us, and we had not yet secured home insurance—call it irresponsible if you will and shame us for that mistake, but we can’t undo our error.”
The pair, already saddled with loans to finance the renovations, now worry about potential liability for the damages inflicted on neighboring properties due to the explosion.
Donations pour in after couple’s house explodes
A GoFundMe page was created to help the family recover from this tragedy and rebuild their future.
To date, the campaign has raised over $57,000, providing some measure of relief as the couple comes to terms with their loss.
After watching their home reduced to rubble and grieving their pets, the distraught newlyweds returned to their reception, initially uncertain of where else they could go.
It was there, amid family and friends, that the magnitude of their brush with death set in. They realized that the timing of their wedding literally saved their lives.
“Had Tom and I not been married just a few hours ago, we and my family members would’ve been dead because we would’ve been home as normal on a weekend. The wedding ceremony saved our lives,” Vrettos shared in writing.
