Elderly man killed when homemade bomb goes off

About 12 miles Northeast of Salida, outside the resuscitated mining ghost town of Turret, in an isolated cabin, lived 92-year-old Edwin Bartheld.

“He always resented the growth with all the new homes being built,” said a neighbor who declined to give his name. “On his gate he put up a large hand painted sign, with large red letters ‘Keep Out!’ until his wife made him take it down.”

The neighbor says Turret’s wife died about a year ago.

“You hardly saw him,” the neighbor said.

But Bartheld wasn’t a recluse. Friends who were worried after not seeing or hearing from him for over a week, found his body in a crawl space underneath his cabin on Friday.

“At first we thought he had died from a self inflicted gun shot,” said Derek Bos with the Chaffee County Sheriffs Office.

But then deputies discovered a large cache of home made explosive devices and chemicals used in the manufacturing process. Investigators believe one of the devices went off accidentally, killing Bartheld.

The mystery is why the man was allegedly making bombs.

“We do not feel there was ever, before or after, a threat to the public safety,” Bos said. “We don’t feel he was targeting public arenas or any people specifically.”

Commander Bos says he believes they have figured out why the bombs were being made, but declined to comment further saying it is an on going criminal investigation.

“This is very bizarre. This is not something I’ve seen before. It’s not normal,” Bos said.