Community mourns couple killed in Port Orchard home explosion



KITSAP COUNTY, Wash. -- Authorities have identified the two people who died in a powerful explosion that leveled a home early Tuesday in Western Washington.

Kitsap County sheriff's Deputy Scott Wilson says the couple is 70-year-old William B. McDonald and his wife 65-year-old Maria C. McDonald.

Their identities will be officially confirmed by the Kitsap County coroner, but Wilson says they have no reason to believe anyone else was in the house when it exploded around 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Wilson says authorities have all but ruled out homicide as a cause of the explosion, but they have not determined how it happened.

As far as they know, no one else in the neighboring homes was injured in the blast, although other buildings were damaged.

By Wednesday, memorials were growing in memory of the couple. The Kitsap Bank that Maria worked at updated their sign which now reads, "Maria McDonald: Friend and co-worker, you will be missed."



The blast was so strong it registered on the Richter scale and was felt 20 miles away at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.

The cause of the blast is still under investigation, but officials said the homeowners used liquid propane to heat their house.