Almost four years after an explosion obliterated a home in Plum’s Holiday Park neighborhood, police are accusing a former resident of the house of purposefully causing the blast.
Plum Police say Jacob Rabb, 41, of Pittsburgh intentionally manipulated a natural gas line to a dryer in the Hialeah Drive house, which caused an explosion while he, his then-wife and their three children were home on April 22, 2022.
No one was killed in the incident, 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.
On three occasions before the explosion, records showed excessive gas consumption rates around 300 cubic feet per hour at the residence during late-night hours that later returned to normal, according to the complaint. An engineer estimated that, had all of the home’s gas appliances been running at once, the consumption would have amounted to only 180 cubic feet per hour, according to police.
The home had been purchased by Rabb’s ex-wife, Laura Petty, in December 2021. Rabb told police he had installed a gas dryer at the home but did not provide a reason for the irregular gas use, according to the complaint.
Months after the explosion, Petty separated from Rabb and later filed a Protection From Abuse order against him, the complaint said.
Petty later found threatening notes in her kitchen, one of which read: “P.S. I did blow up the house,” the complaint said.
Two months later, Petty told police Rabb had discussed how he “disconnected the gas valve” from the dryer and turned the gas back on while he threatened her with a knife, according to the complaint. That would have allowed gas to flow freely into the home.
Rabb’s father also told police Rabb had stated he was responsible for the explosion, the complaint said.
When a detective interviewed Rabb at the Allegheny County Jail, Rabb said he had written the note “because he wanted to die,” according to police. He denied telling Petty that he caused the explosion, the complaint said.
Rabb had expressed his intentions to harm himself multiple times since the blast and had been admitted to Western Psychiatric Hospital at least once, according to the complaint. The complaint said that, at the time of the explosion, he had not worked since 2017 because he suffered from depression.
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.
The ignition source was likely a nearby furnace, according to the complaint.
Petty told TribLive soon after the incident that the family was asleep during the explosion, except for her then-11-year-old son who was playing video games.
The boy escaped on his own, but Petty credited Rabb with helping the rest of the family make it out of the home in 2022.
“I don’t remember anything,” Petty told TribLive. “I don’t remember hearing a blast or feeling the blast or anything. I woke up in bed with the roof collapsed on me. I was super disoriented. If it wasn’t for (Rabb), we wouldn’t have made it out.
“He was the one running around making sure we all got out safe,” she said. “I was so out of it. It was the worst nightmare.”
The blast also caused thousands of dollars in damages to nearby homes, the complaint said.
The site of the former home has been a vacant lot for years. Shannon Lee Properties LLC bought the plot in January for $25,000, according to property records.
Rabb did not have a defense attorney listed as of Monday evening. A date for his preliminary hearing has not been set.