Cicero Explosion
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CICERO, Ill. (WGN) – Authorities have identified a suspect they believe to be responsible for an explosion in Cicero, Illinois, that left one person dead and 11 families displaced.

The explosion also destroyed the home of a couple who had gotten married the same day.

“I ran here in my wedding dress, like down the alley, and was watching from a neighbor’s yard,” Eleni Vrettos, 32, previously told Nexstar’s WGN. “Everything was just smoke at that point.”

Cicero Explosion
(WGN)

Officers responded to the site of the explosion in Cicero just before 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15. When the fire was extinguished, authorities found the remains of 31-year-old Anthony Avila-Puebla in the debris, according to investigators.

Over the course of the investigation, detectives said they determined that Avila-Puebla had a relationship with a family member living at the home where the explosion happened. While the family member attended the wedding, Avila-Puebla was seen on video parking his vehicle half a block from the home, removing a five-gallon jug and going inside the building, police said.

Avila-Puebla was then allegedly seen leaving the building with the same jug that was now empty and returning to his vehicle to retrieve more jugs and reenter the building. Shortly after, an explosion happened and Avila-Puebla was not seen leaving the building, according to authorities.

Police said the investigation revealed the jugs contained a flammable liquid and Avila-Puebla was determined to be responsible for the explosion.

A neighboring building also caught fire as a result of the explosion and another adjacent building sustained minor damage, according to investigators. Officials said a total of 11 units and families were impacted.

The motive for the explosion remains unknown and the investigation remains ongoing.

All other family members living in the home were said to be at the wedding ceremony when the explosion took place. But Vrettos previously told WGN there were also animals inside the home: four of her beloved cats and two that belonged to her mother.

“They were the perfect little bunch, like they all got along. I thought I would have them for years, they were all much younger, and they were my home I would say. So now I don’t have a home and on top of it, I don’t have them as my home,” Vrettos said. “That’s the most devastating because they’re the ones that give me the comfort through that darkness. My dad passed away a few years ago so we don’t have the home as a remembrance of him, too. It’s a lot to grieve.”

Vrettos said she recently took over ownership of the home, along with her brother, after it had been in her mother’s name for close to 40 years. They were planning to help with updates and renovations to take the burden off, however, they were in the process of transferring home insurance, so they did not have coverage at the time of the fire.

WGN’s Courtney Spinelli contributed to this article.

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