Officials can’t pin down what caused the explosion outside a Stonington home this summer that led to a fatal fire.
David Crutcher, 71, was found dead at his home on Fifield Point in August after a massive fire torched the waterside residence, leaving only the foundation and a chimney standing. Investigators did find that the fire started as a result of liquid propane tanks outside the home exploding, but the damage was so extensive that they can’t conclude what caused the tanks to blow up.
“The official finding is that the cause of the explosion is undetermined because of the extent of the damage,” Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the state fire marshal’s office, said this week.
Investigators do suspect that there was “ignitable liquid” at the Stonington home, which could have caused it to be entirely engulfed in flames as fire crews from across the region responded.
“The explosion was followed immediately by an accelerated fire, throughout the residence, which indicates the presence of an ignitable liquid,” Moss said.
Officials said they did not suspect foul play in the immediate aftermath of the blaze, and Moss reiterated that there was no indication that someone else was involved.
Crutcher lived alone at the home, which was known as the Avalon House. Originally from Kentucky, he moved to Stonington about seven or eight years ago, according to people who knew him.
He was an inquisitive person who “had big ideas about how to improve his environment and shape it into something beautiful and functional,” according to his obituary.
He owned several other properties on the island and had a passion for electric bicycles.
Crutcher struggled with mental health issues, the obituary noted, and he cycled through periods of extreme exuberance and anxiety for much of the last decade of his life.
