Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Agencies Continue Investigation Into House Fire

Four-year-old Jadarian Woodbury was killed in a mysterious explosion at his home Monday, Oct. 2, at the family's residence in Prescott.

His mother, Farah Fleming, 24, was seriously injured in the blast with more than 50 percent of her body covered in third degree burns. She remains hospitalized at Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas.

As of press time the cause of the explosion remains unknown, even though it's been a full week since the house burned.

According to Reliant Energy-Arkla spokesman Margaret Preston, two bug fogger canisters were found inside the structure after the fire.

She said Arkla investigators were sent to the scene with an electronic "sniffer" to see if natural gas was the cause of the explosion.

A sniffer, Preston said, is used to detect the presence of natural gas and uses special sensors to do it.

The investigators found no evidence of residual gas, she added, but did detect the presence of gas coming from the meter damaged in the blast. At the time of the fire gas had not been turned on at the home.

Natural gas, she continued, has no odor. This is added by the gas company, and made offensive so people will notice it when there is a gas leak.

However, witnesses back Preston's statement up saying the odor of natural gas had been smelled in the area after the explosion and subsequent fire, indicating a gas line could have been ruptured by the blast.

Scott Clark, criminal investigator with the Arkansas State Police said Fleming told investigators she went inside the house, lit a cigarette and the house blew up.

He added witnesses said they had smelled the odor of natural gas.

Arkla investigators found the bug foggers and have been looking into them being the cause of the explosion.

According to reports, ASP Sgt. Jerry Digman said investigators did find a natural gas leak Tuesday outside the home and the gas had probably migrated into the house from the leak.

Again, Preston denied natural gas as the reason for the blast, saying the company's investigator determined there was no residual gas in or under the house.

Woodbury's body was sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock for autopsy.

At the time of the fire, the hood and driver's side door of a car by the house was burning.

Firemen with the Prescott Fire Department worked desperately to get the blaze under control, while members of the Nevada County Ambulance Service attended to Fleming.

Debris from the blast nearly reached the street in places, but no other structures were damaged by the fire, though it did gut Fleming's house.