COPPERAS COVE, Texas — A woman has been arrested in connection to a house explosion in Copperas Cove that occurred on May 24, according to arrest documents from the Coryell County Sheriff's Office.
According to arrest records, 42-year-old Devon Nicole Bellows has been charged with arson causing bodily injury or death and tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair. According to an arrest document, Bellows lived in the house that exploded. She lived there along with her mom, who owned the property.
Shortly before 6:30 a.m., the home, in the area of East Blancas Drive and North Main Street, exploded, causing a widespread power outage that was later restored on May 24.
Landon Michael Lower, 34, of Killeen, was reportedly injured in relation to the explosion, and later died in the hospital four days after the initial incident.
According to an arrest report from the Sheriff's Office, Bellows arrived at the scene to get multiple items she claimed were hers. Those personal belongings were found away from the scene undestroyed. According to the complaint, the detective said training has indicated that an "arsonist will sometimes remove their property or items of particular value to the owner if the owner is involved in the arson."
The complaint also said Bellows was questioned by authorities about why Lower would have been at the scene of the incident, and Bellows told Copperas Cove Police detectives that she had asked Lower to check on her house while she was gone, but wasn't sure why he was there at the time of the incident.
Bellows' phone showed that she had called Lower six times and texted him multiple times the morning of the explosion. Multiple messages had been deleted in a conversation between the two by the time her phone was seized by authorities, according to arrest documents.
Some of the messages Bellows sent Lower included "This is our last chance. It will take you five minutes and then go do whatever you are doing. If you didn't want to do it, you should have just said so. I don't understand why you haven't done it already."
Other calls made to Lower included Bellows stating it was their "last chance", despite not explicitly mentioning the fire or explosion that took place.
Further evidence pointing to Bellows' involvement in the case was found when investigators reviewed phone call records between her and a male Bell County Jail inmate said to be a "mutual friend" of Bellows and Lower.
A May 12 phone call allegedly broached the topic of the arson, with the inmate saying, "If I don't get out in time, get (Lower) to do it." Additional mention of "the job" being "easy, as long as (Lower) gets in and out" was brought up, as well as the inmate instructing Bellows to "give (Lower) half of the money she would get from the planned job."
After the explosion on May 24, Bellows told the inmate that her phone had been seized, but she didn't believe there was "anything on it because she and (Lower) had (spoken) in person," which the arrest documents say is not what she told police at the scene.
Bellows has been charged with arson resulting in injury or death and tampering with evidence with intent to impair. Her bond is set at $210,000.
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