Fire chief: LaGrange man blown up trying to burn ex-girlfriend's body

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An explosive south Fulton County fire was apparently started last month by a man trying to burn his ex-girlfriend’s body, officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Enlarge photo

John Spink, jspink@ajc.com A single-story house in Fairburn's Milam Manor subdivision was destroyed by an explosion.

Related

• Fulton short on fire trucks
• Children alive after explosion
• Photos: Two found dead in home explosion
• Fairburn blast victim named
• Deliberate fire caused explosion

More Atlanta/Fulton news »

• Beryl may bring rain, wind here
• Not all cheating the same at APS
• Sneiderman battle recalls 1989 saga
• Citizen Review Board under scrutiny
• Atlanta/South Fulton
• North Fulton

Sarone Bridges perished in the ensuing blaze, but not immediately after the blast that started the quick-burning fire, Fulton County Fire Chief Larry Few said.

“Based on how his body was positioned, I think (the) explosion took its toll on him,” Few said. "The concussion from the blast could have made him disoriented where he fell, and he received the thermal burns afterwards.”

Investigators from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office said Bridges died of burns and smoke inhalation.

Bridges’ ex-girlfriend, Beverly Bland, 34, was strangled before the fire, police said.

Two children who lived with Bland at the Garvey Drive house weren’t home at the time of the fire, police said.

Few said Bridges, 35, doused a sleeping bag with gasoline and laid Bland’s body on the bag to set it on fire. But his plan literally blew up in his face.

“When he threw that match, the vapors of gasoline are what ignited,” Few said. “There was an immediate fireball that blew the windows out.”

Fire officials said the blaze burned so hot, so quickly, the flames singed only one side of the wooden frame, leaving it standing.

According to records obtained by Channel 2 Action News from the Fulton County emergency call system, Bland and Bridges worked together at the PetSmart distribution center in Newnan and had broken off a relationship in May.

A supervisor told emergency operators that following a dispute at work the day before the incident, Bridges would not let Bland out of his car.

The supervisor, Larry Miller, could not be reached by phone Tuesday, but he accused Bridges of “stalking” Bland, saying Bridges even entered her home through an open window the week before the fire.

-- Staff writer Johnny Edwards contributed to this report.