On the evening of April 22, 2022, Terri Aubele remembers nearly being knocked to the ground by an explosion that leveled the home next to hers on Plum’s Hialeah Drive.
She said it was chaos as she scrambled to get her grandchildren out of the house. The family had been planning to visit the Pittsburgh Zoo the next day.
Ultimately, the blast caused thousands of dollars of damage to Aubele’s home — melting her siding, setting her fence ablaze and sending shattered glass throughout her property.
“I still find pieces of glass sometimes,” she told TribLive on Tuesday.
On Monday morning, officials finally offered a cause for the nearly 4-year-old house explosion, accusing former resident Jacob Rabb of intentionally blowing up the house.
Plum police say Rabb, 41, of Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood intentionally manipulated a natural gas line to a dryer in the house, which caused the explosion while he, his then-wife and their three children were home.
No one was killed, but one of the children suffered first-degree burns on his back and torso, according to a criminal complaint filed against Rabb.
Rabb is facing more than a dozen felony charges, including criminal attempted homicide, aggravated arson and causing or risking a catastrophe.
Police said Rabb allowed natural gas to flow freely into the home multiple times before the blast and admitted he caused the explosion to his now ex-wife and father.
An Allegheny County deputy fire marshal determined the cause of the fire was natural gas vapors intentionally released through manual manipulation of a gas line, the complaint said.
Aubele was shocked when she heard Rabb had been charged, but she said she got a “bad vibe” from her former neighbor.
Rabb’s ex-wife, Laura Petty, purchased the home in December 2021, and the family had lived there only a few months before the explosion. Years later, the site remains an empty grass lot.
Aubele said she rarely saw Rabb leave the house or attend to his three children. Police said, at the time of the explosion, Rabb had not worked since 2017 because he suffered from depression.
“I felt it was something that was going on in that home,” Aubele said.
More than anything, the charges were a relief to neighbor Jen Van Horn.
Without any updates from officials, she worried for years there might have been issues with the neighborhood’s gas lines that could affect her home.
“We were in the dark the whole time,” Van Horn said.
That night, she remembers standing in her backyard when she heard the boom of the explosion. At first, she thought a tree had fallen on her home before she noticed the flames across the street and debris in her yard.
Though the incident was devastating, the charges at least offered some clarity, Van Horn said.
Harriet Schwartz, who also lives across the street from the former home, said the charges also came as a relief to her.
Nearly four years ago, she remembers watching Rabb’s 11-year-old son crawl out of the destroyed home through a basement window.
“How could he kill his kids?” she said.
Holiday Park Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jim Sims said his main priority the night of the blast was protecting nearby homes and taking care of the occupants.
The county fire marshal is responsible for investigating the cause of incidents, which Sims said can often be a lengthy process.
“It’s hard for people to realize these investigations take time,” he said.
But after the charges against Rabb, Sims said he hopes neighbors can have some “peace of mind.”
Rabb’s preliminary hearing is set for March 18 in District Judge Mike Doyle’s Plum office. District Judge Eugene Ricciardi denied him bail, and Rabb remains in the Allegheny County Jail.
It’s not the first time a home has exploded in the borough.
In March 2008, a house at 171 Mardi Gras — less than a half-mile from the site of the Hialeah Drive incident — exploded, two others were destroyed and 11 were damaged.
A grandfather, Richard Leith, 64, of Trafford, was killed and his granddaughter, Gianna, then 4, suffered a broken leg.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that a 2-inch natural gas distribution pipeline had been hit by a backhoe when a sewer line was replaced five years prior in 2003, stripping the pipeline of its protective coating and making it susceptible to corrosion and failure.
Authorities have filed no criminal charges in connection with the fatal blast that tore through the Rustic Ridge development nearly three years ago, killing six people.
“Rustic Ridge remains under investigation and we have no updates at this time,” Allegheny County Police spokesman Jim Madalinsky told TribLive on Tuesday.
“The investigative findings and the length of time needed for the Hialeah Drive investigation further validates what we have always said: These investigations can take years,” Madalinsky added. “We appreciate the thorough work of everyone involved and the community’s patience as these investigations continue.”
In December, a private consulting firm’s report determined energy company Penneco Oil Co. was not responsible for the Rustic Ridge explosion — a conclusion sure to be challenged in court. Penneco and Peoples Gas were among those sued for negligence and wrongful death in July 2025 by the victims’ families.
Multiple lawsuits accused the companies of failing to repair a pipeline leak that allowed flammable natural gas to migrate underground into the basement of Heather and Paul Oravitz’s home in the subdivision, where it ignited Aug. 12, 2023.
As early as 2024, authorities, such as Allegheny County’s Department of Emergency Services Chief Matthew Brown, warned residents about what they expected to be “very, very lengthy investigative processes” to get to the bottom of what led to that explosion — and who might be responsible.
TribLive staff writer Justin Vellucci contributed to this report.