Arkansas family identified as victims in explosion near Whitmore Lake

NORTHFIELD TWP. — A holiday weekend explosion killed four members of an Arkansas family near Whitmore Lake.

Northfield Township Police and Fire were dispatched around 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 30, to a home in the 8200 block of Winters Lane. Upon arrival, they found a single-family home leveled by an explosion, leaving a debris field that covered roughly two acres of property. Only the basement remained.

More: Death toll rises to 4 in devastating Northfield Twp. house explosion

Responders learned there were six occupants in the home at the time of the explosion, and police began a search while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. By the following afternoon, four were confirmed dead and two were hospitalized.

Green Oak Township Police and Fire, Hamburg Township Fire, Ann Arbor Township Fire, Salem Township Fire, Huron Valley Ambulance, Washtenaw County Emergency Management, the Washtenaw County Road Commission, the Michigan State Police, the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office and HART Huron Valley assisted in the response.

Northfield Township Police released an update Tuesday, saying the investigation is continuing and will take some time. The department asks the public to stay clear of the area and allow investigators space to work.

Preliminary investigation shows an undetermined fuel-air explosion caused the damage. That finding is subject to change pending further analysis of evidence and interviews. Foul play is not suspected at this time.

Northfield Township Police Lt. David Powell noted he didn't know whether any gas appliances had been recently installed in the home, and said there was no evidence of a meth lab.

"There's nothing left of the property," Powell said. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Yesterday, I was crying on and off all morning — thinking about them," family friend Matthew Rooney, 40, told the Free Press. "I can’t get it out of my head. I just keep imagining their last moments."

Hope and Don Bragg, 51 and 53, along with their three children — Kenny, a 22-year-old Michigan Tech student; Beth, a 19-year-old college freshman in Arkansas, and Stephen, 16 — were in the house with Hope’s father, Rich Pruden, Rooney said.

Rooney — who said he was a family friend and colleague and has a son in the same school as Stephen who, along with Pruden, survived and is hospitalized — called the unexplained Saturday afternoon explosion "horrifying."

Pruden remains in critical condition and Stephen remains in stable condition, according to Northfield Township Police.

Rooney said Hope and Don were visiting Michigan for the holidays. Although they lived in Arkansas, they often vacationed in the home — which police said was built in 1979 — and were fixing it up and planning to eventually retire there.

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Kenny was preparing to graduate from Michigan Tech, Rooney said. Beth — who Rooney recalled "made the best desserts" — left home in the fall to start college at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Stephen is a student in the Monticello School District in Arkansas. Superintendent Sandra Lanehart wrote in a social media post he has a broken pelvis and lacerated liver. She added Purden remains “in a coma,” with burns to 20% of his body.

A vigil in remembrance and support of the victims and their families is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 6, at Whitmore Lake High School.

Rev. Steve Hoffer, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Las Vegas, requested prayers for the family in a Facebook post the night of the explosion. Hoffer said Hope is his cousin and Pruden is his uncle.

“Please pray for the Bragg and Pruden family,” Hoffer wrote. “Also pray for your families. If you have not spoken to a family member in a while, do so today because you never know what will happen tomorrow.”

GoFundMe pages have been created to help Pruden and Stephen. Pruden remains in intensive care at the University of Michigan Hospital, according to his nephew, Chris Pruden. The link is gofund.me/a66542b0.

Stephen, meanwhile, "faces many months of recovery," according to his uncle, John Bragg. The fundraiser will help cover out-of-pocket funeral and care expenses, including regular visits from long-distance family. The link is gofundme.com/f/assist-stephens-recovery.

— The Detroit Free Press contributed to this article. Contact reporter Evan Sasiela at esasiela@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @SalsaEvan.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Arkansas family identified as victims in explosion near Whitmore Lake