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Woman, 83, Son Die in Fortified Foreclosed Home

Pair made last stand on eviction day

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 23, 2010 10:24 AM CDT

(Newser) – A mother and son chose to destroy themselves and their foreclosed home rather than surrender to deputies trying to evict them, police in Nevada say. Deputies and a locksmith arriving to evict Therese Christensen, 83, and her 46-year-old son, Gary, from the Reno home they had lived in for decades heard what sounded like gunshots followed by an explosion, the AP reports. Two bodies were later found inside the heavily fortified home.

"All the windows and doors had been boarded up with plywood from the inside," an officer said of the home in an upscale gated community. "Later, we learned the front door had been barricaded with cases of ceramic tile." Investigators say they believe an accelerant was used inside the home, which had been sold at a foreclosure auction last month.


Firefighters crouch behind a fence behind a burning house in Reno, Nev.
Firefighters crouch behind a fence behind a burning house in Reno, Nev.   (AP Photo/The Reno Gazette-Journal, Marilyn Newton)
A police officer keeps his weapon trained on the rear of the Christensen home as firefighters try to battle the blaze.
A police officer keeps his weapon trained on the rear of the Christensen home as firefighters try to battle the blaze.   (AP Photo/The Reno Gazette-Journal, Marilyn Newton)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 22 comments
joe1148
Jul 25, 2010 3:27 PM CDT
While a bit off focus; I have always felt that property tax should be done away with. Government must find a better tax medium AND even more so, learn to live within budgets of need, not niceties. The idea of working much of your life to purchase a home should not be followed by having to rent it from the government for the rest of your life. As well, (on subject) these assholes at banks that have taken billions in taxpayer bailout only to pay exec bonuses of millions and billions should be forced to give those same taxpayers a fair shake! And the worst of the worst is B of A! Being made the biggest of the big, or close to, they have definitely become the worst of the assholes!
danusunt
Jul 24, 2010 11:20 AM CDT
Anybody know yet what that land is going for? And is the bank responsible for the demolition?
slammer
Jul 23, 2010 4:20 PM CDT
sad very sad
 

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