Family home of couple explodes during wedding, leaving one guest missing
The family home of a bride and groom exploded while they were getting married, leading to one person missing, 11 families displaced, and their six pet cats killed.
Multiple media outlets—including CBS News, ABC7 WLS Chicago, and WGN-TV—reported that Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos in Cicero, Illinois had just exchanged "I dos" when their phones lighted up will calls informing that their two-story house on Central Avenue was destroyed.
Six people, including the newlyweds, lived in the building.
“I ran here in my wedding dress, like down the alley, and was watching from a neighbor’s yard,” Vrettos told WGN-TV. “Everything was just smoke at that point.”
Her mother Pauline Vrettos also confirmed the incident. "We were at the wedding, taking pictures at the end of the ceremony, and my daughter's friend called her," she said. "They said there was a fire, and they weren't sure whose house it was. Later, I learned the town was calling. I hadn't looked at my phone or anything."
Investigators suspected a gas leak was the cause, beginning at around 5 p.m.
The entire front of the building was blown out, while some of its bricks, windows, and I-beams landed across the street.
At least two neighboring buildings were also damaged in the blast.
The explosion triggered a large fire in the building, with flames rising high over the roof of surrounding structures.
A neighboring building caught fire, resulting in the displacement of 11 families.
One person's body, meanwhile, was found in the debris. The victim wasn't identified yet. A wedding guest had been reported missing after leaving the event, but it's unclear if that was the person who died.
The house is already undergoing renovation.
A GoFundMe campaign was created for the family's recovery, with over $44,400 (P2.55 million) donations to date.
Vrettos also mourned the deaths of their cats. “Now I don’t have a home and on top of it, I don’t have them as my home,” She said. “That’s the most devastating because they’re the ones that give me the comfort through that darkness.”
She added that the building belonged to her family for nearly 40 years.
"I grew up here, so I live, lived here, and I work in the community," Vrettos said. "And I mean, Cicero is all I really know."
