Guest sneaks out of wedding to blow up newlyweds' home; explosion displaces 11 families: 'I ran here in my wedding dress'
An Illinois man snuck out of a wedding to blow up the home of the newlyweds, and the explosion was so devastating that it displaced 11 families and killed six cats belonging to the bride, according to police.
Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos had their wedding on Feb. 15. After the couple said "I do," they learned of the tragedy of their Cicero home being obliterated in an explosion.
'On what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, the Vrettos family, including newlyweds Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos, experienced an unimaginable tragedy.'
Around 4:50 p.m. — just 10 minutes before the end of the wedding ceremony — Vrettos started getting calls about the explosion.
“We weren’t sure if it was us, obviously, either way, we were devastated to know it was near us,” Vrettos told WGN-TV. “My niece left the church. She confirmed that, yes, it was our house.”
Vrettos told WSAV-TV, "I ran here in my wedding dress, like down the alley, and was watching from a neighbor’s yard. Everything was just smoke at that point."
All of the family members who lived in the home weren't in it during the explosion because they all were at the wedding. However, Vrettos' six cats were killed.
"There was no way my babies made it out in that instant," Vrettos said. "While my first instinct was to run to the rubble to search for my angels, we obviously were told we couldn't be there, and there was nothing to be done."
The explosion and fire damaged two nearby buildings, and 11 families were displaced. Temporary housing has been provided to all of the families.
Surveillance cameras from nearby homes and businesses caught the moment the house exploded. The cameras also captured suspicious happenings just before the explosion.
The day after the explosion, a dead body was found in the rubble.
On Saturday, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as 31-year-old Anthony Avila-Puebla.
Investigators said Avila-Puebla was a guest at the wedding but snuck out at some point.
Surveillance video reportedly shows Avila-Puebla parking his car a half-block from the house. Avila-Puebla allegedly is seen in the video carrying jugs of flammable liquid to the house. He reportedly made two more trips to his vehicle to retrieve more jugs.
Police said he set fire to the two-story house but never came back outside.
Detectives reportedly discovered that Avila-Puebla had a relationship with one of the people who lived in the home and was at the ceremony.
Police said the motive behind the explosion is still unclear, and an investigation is ongoing.
'I truly have no idea what we are going to do when it comes to the near future because there is so much at play with the unknown.'
The house had been Vrettos' childhood home, and she recently moved back into it with her husband to start their new life.
"The building belonged to my family for almost 40 years. Yeah, I grew up here, so I live, lived here, and I work in the community. And I mean, Cicero is all I really know," Vrettos told WLS-TV.
Vrettos and her brother recently took ownership of the home after it had been in their mother's name.
The pair was planning to help make renovations on the home, including repairing some "long overdue" issues.
What's more, the brother and sister were in the process of transferring home insurance and did not have coverage at the time of the explosion and fire.
"Recently, my brother and I had transferred the home ownership from our mom to us, and we had not yet secured home insurance. Call it irresponsible if you will and shame us for that mistake, but we can’t undo our error," Vrettos explained. "I truly have no idea what we are going to do when it comes to the near future because there is so much at play with the unknown."
A GoFundMe campaign recently was launched to help the couple rebuild the home.
"On what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, the Vrettos family, including newlyweds Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos, experienced an unimaginable tragedy," the campaign description on the crowdfunding site reads. "While celebrating Tom and Eleni’s wedding ceremony, their home in Cicero, Illinois, was completely destroyed in a devastating fire."
"This home was more than just a house — it was where Eleni grew up, where she and Tom had moved in to start their new life together, and where the family had built countless memories over the years," the campaign states. "Now, they have lost everything — their belongings, their keepsakes, and the place they called home."
The GoFundMe says they "have no coverage to help them recover from this devastating loss."
At the time of publication, the GoFundMe had raised nearly $60,000.
WLS-TV covered the explosion on a recent newscast.
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