Hours Before Auction, Explosion & Fire Take Down Home In Foreclosure; Investigators Find Deceased Owner In Basement w/ Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

In Rockville, Maryland, WTOP Radio 103.5 FM reports:

• The remains recovered from the wreckage of a Rockville, Maryland, house after an explosion and fire last week have been identified as the home’s owner, [...].
  
  The county’s chief medical examiner determined Beck died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Beck also shot and killed his dog, Montgomery County police said Monday [March 20] afternoon. His remains were recovered from the home’s basement over the weekend.
  
  Authorities said they were still trying to working to determine the timing and the circumstances of the explosion, which reportedly could be heard miles away and damaged several nearby homes on Ashley Drive.
  
  The single-story brick home, which was in foreclosure, exploded shortly before 1 a.m. Friday [March 17] — just hours before it was set to go up for auction. Authorities said last week there had been unauthorized gas use in the home since December, but investigators do no yet know whether that was the cause of the explosion.
  
  Officials have said the pending auction will be part of the investigation.

For more, see Owner of Rockville house destroyed in explosion shot himself, dog.