Two male adults, ages 17 and 18, and three juveniles could face consequences after placing a homemade explosive inside a mailbox on the 200 block of Venus Street in Holts Summit last month, according to Sgt. Marc Haycook with the Holts Summit Police Department.
An elderly woman discovered the explosive device in her mailbox on the morning of January 10 and contacted authorities. The Holts Summit Police Department (HSPD) and a technician with the Missouri State Highway Patrol bomb squad inspected the device, which was dismantled and used as physical evidence during the investigation of the incident.
The explosive was the only piece of information police had in this case - or it was until an anonymous call came into the Crime Stoppers tip line. Haycook said that call led authorities to the two male adults and three juveniles who built the explosive.
Because Crime Stoppers is a completely anonymous service, Haycook said he couldn't release information the caller gave to investigators. Once approached about the incident, Haycook said the individuals were forth coming with authorities. Their cooperation gave cause for authorities to not press state charges.
A U.S. Postal Service investigator aided HSPD in the case, traveling from St. Louis weekly to follow up on leads and conduct interviews. The United States Postal Investigation Service has jurisdiction over all mailbox crimes committed nationwide. At one point in the investigation, the Postal Service investigator turned the case over to HSPD. Federal charges will not be filed.
Haycook said the two adults will face municipal charges, which results in - at most - 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine. Charges have not yet been determined by Holts Summit Prosecuting Attorney Renee Godbee. Judge Curtis Hanrahan will hear the case. The three juveniles are being turned over to juvenile court, Haycook said.
He said the suspects had no intent to cause harm to anyone, including the elderly woman who found the explosive device. She was not targeted and her mailbox was randomly selected. Though he said he was sad to admit it, the case boiled down to "kids being kids."
"There was no intent to harm someone. They made a stupid mistake, realized it and said, "We better tell you what we did' and they did," Haycook said. "Will they ever make this type of mistake again? I don't know. After what they've gone through with this, I would hope that they would not do anything like this ... I think it can be a real learning lesson for those individuals, especially the juveniles. They've learned a valuable lesson."
Haycook did not release the names of the two adult suspects because the charges weren't filed as of Thursday evening. State law prevents police from publicly giving the names of minors involved in crimes.
Leading up the the morning of Jan. 10, Haycook said the five individuals experimented with explosives overnight, detonating four prior to placing a fifth inside the Venus Street mailbox. They had been setting the explosives off in an open field near the cul de sac where Venus Street is located, but not around homes, Haycook said.
The suspects used a consumer-grade firework for their explosive. Haycook said the suspects packed the fuse inside the device too tightly and it "snuffed up" before they placed it inside the mailbox. They lit the device, but it did not detonate because of their error.
"They just got lucky it didn't go off," Haycook said.
He said if the explosive had gone off, it would have caused a similar blast to that of a shot gun. It's likely, he added, that flying scrap metal from the mailbox could have also caused bodily damage.
The five individuals discovered a video online of an explosive and created an identical one. Haycook showed the video to local media on Thursday. It shows an object - similar in size and shape to a lemon - filled with pellets. Inside the object, is the actual explosive. A firework fuse hangs out the pellet-filled object. The force from the explosion in the video put a hole in the ground and holes in the cardboard covering it. A piece of the cardboard flew 20 feet away, Haycook said.
Haycook said investigators could not have solved the case without the media's assistance in reporting and what he stressed the most - the public's help.
"That day we said, "We're not going to solve this case unless we get information from somebody,'" Haycook said.
Haycook said this case is a good example of how the public and Crime Stoppers can assist in solving investigations.