Mother fears for son who caused apartment blast

Mattie McGilbra says her son, Michael, tried to commit suicide by natural gas four years ago after his marriage failed and his wife of 17 years left him.

She doesn't know what to think about the allegations by fire investigators that he tried it again Monday.

Four of the 16 units at La Fiesta apartment building near Owens Avenue and Lamb Boulevard, including Michael McGilbra's, were blown up at 5:44 p.m. Officials estimate the damage at $500,000. But no one was killed and, miraculously, only McGilbra was injured.

At University Medical Center's burn unit Wednesday afternoon, he was listed in good condition. He declined an interview with the Sun.

"It's kind of outrageous," Mattie McGilbra said Wednesday when reached by phone. "When I last saw him it was New Year's Eve."

She said her son, 42, stayed home that night and called her the next day and said to her, "Aren't you glad I stayed home? Aren't you proud of me?"

He seemed in good spirits then, she said, not depressed the way he was the first time she said he attempted suicide and ended up at Montevista Hospital.

"But he was complaining about chest pains," she said.

Mattie McGilbra is a soft-spoken, caring mother who has seen three of her eight children die -- one at birth, one following open-heart surgery and one of liver failure caused by diabetes.

She said that doctors in 1996 told Michael he had two years to live because of liver disease.

But still he continues to work hard.

Clark County School District officials confirmed that McGilbra, an 18-year employee of the district, is a custodian at Myrtle Tate Elementary School, earning $34,278 a year. School officials declined further comment.

"Michael has been working since he was 13 years old," Mattie McGilbra said. "Been a janitor all his life, a paper boy when he was a kid. He's always busy working. He works seven days a week."

Gas line disconnectedBased on statements he made during an interview Tuesday night at UMC and evidence discovered in the rubble, fire investigators determined that Michael McGilbra disconnected the flexible gas-supply line to the kitchen stove to kill himself, according to Tim Szymanski, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman.

Southwest Gas Corp. reported finding no leaks in any of the building's gas lines during tests at the site Tuesday, Szymanski said.

"You have to manually disconnect that type of line," Szymanski said. "You'd need a tool, a wrench, to untighten it a little, and then you could twist it off with your hand. The gas line was disconnected and found in the 'on' position, and it shouldn't have been.

"We think he was attempting to commit suicide."

How long the gas had been leaking wasn't clear. Enough of it, however, had leaked into McGilbra's upstairs apartment to blast off a portion of the building's roof, collapse the floor and knock out walls and windows.

A telltale sign had authorities speculating from the beginning that it was a natural gas explosion: Only the attic was burned.

"Natural gas rises to the highest point, and the only part of the building that caught on fire was the attic. Neither the first or second floor caught on fire. It blew the roof off," Szymanski said.

Although there had been rumors that McGilbra triggered the explosion by lighting a cigarette, fire investigators have refused to disclose the ignition source until after the case is reviewed by the district attorney's office.

"If a home is filled with natural gas, we ask people to leave the building immediately," Szymanski said. "A bell ringing on a telephone or even turning on a light fixture could cause an explosion."

Investigators expected to have the case submitted to the district attorney's office by today for advice on what, if any, charges could be filed.

Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens, who heads the office's screening unit, said this morning that the fire department had not yet submitted its information. When it comes in, he said he will try to determine whether there has been a violation of the so-called Fan Man statute.

That statute makes it a crime to engage in conduct that could result in harm to others, even if there is no intent to harm. The law, a gross misdemeanor, was passed after James Miller crashed his propeller-driven paraglider into a boxing ring at Caesars Palace during a match between Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe.

The then-30-year-old had declared himself to be "Fan Man" after the incident that resulted in the match being delayed for several minutes. In early 1994, he was convicted of misdemeanor trespassing and sentenced to 10 days in jail.

Mattie McGilbra said she always worries about her son, a single parent raising a 14-year-old son and 12-year old daughter. A third child, Michael Jr., 18, is in the Navy.

"He's getting so thin, really losing weight," she said of her son.

He worries a lot and often complains of stomach pains.

"He takes a lot of Rolaids," she said.

She searched for possible reasons her son might have been depressed enough to take his own life.

Maybe, she thought, he was upset because his son, Michael Jr., didn't spend the night with him when he was in town on leave for the New Year's holiday.

Or perhaps mounting bills may have created some stress she didn't see.

The timing of McGilbra's apparent suicide attempt fits with a pattern that mental-health experts see time and again -- both during and just after the holidays when the joy others seem to find just doesn't come for those battling depression.

"The reality of the holidays and the Christmas season is that there are a lot of people whose depression intensifies because the promise of Christmas wasn't fulfilled, and it doesn't matter what's under the tree," Dr. Harold Orchow of Montevista Hospital, a Las Vegas mental- health facility, said.

Orchow mentioned the history of the word "January" as having interesting significance: The month was named after the Roman god, Janus, who was known for wearing two faces -- one looking toward the future, one looking back.

"Many endure the holiday season and get through it, grateful for January as a new beginning," Orchow said. "For others, life is bleak. We all tend to want to survive as a group, but people who attempt suicide see no other alternative."

Of her conversations with her son in the days before the explosion, Mattie McGilbra said she thought he was OK, except maybe physically sick, nothing unusual for a man with a terminal illness.

His two children, who spend a lot of time with the McGilbras, were spending a few nights with her and her husband, Clarence Sr.

McGilbra said when her son didn't call Saturday to check on the children, she went to his apartment and knocked on the door, but he wouldn't answer.

He didn't answer phone calls or pages.

Sunday evening, after church, and again Sunday night she went to the apartment but couldn't get her son to answer the door.

And again Monday afternoon about 4 p.m. she went to the complex and asked the manager to let her into the apartment.

"But she said it was against the rules," McGilbra said.

Donna Gill, regional supervisor for Realty Management Inc., which oversees La Fiesta, said it would have been against the law to let McGilbra's mother into his home.

"She wanted a key to go inside the apartment," Gill said. "Legally, we can't give out a key to someone who is not on the lease."

Gill said Mattie McGilbra was advised to call the police and get an escort to her son's door if she thought there was a problem.

"She said she didn't want to do that," Gill said.

McGilbra left but came back an hour later, determined to get into the apartment to make sure her son wasn't lying dead on the floor.

Minutes before she arrived, the building blew up.

"This is such an unusual case, and it's difficult to know what charges could apply," Szymanski said. "One of the stipulations with arson is that you have to prove intent, that you wanted to burn the building down. We think (McGilbra) just wanted to harm himself."

McGilbra notified management about two months ago that he smelled a gas leak in the five-month-old apartment, but Southwest Gas checked the property and found all lines operating free of leaks, Szymanski said.

"They speculated that since the apartment was so new, McGilbra probably smelled the carpeting and paint and mistook it for gas," Szymanski said.

Gill said the company hopes to begin demolishing the damaged portion of Building Five by this weekend. Rebuilding will follow.

Tenants in eight of the building's 16 units have moved back in, Gill said. Seven other families have been relocated -- five on La Fiesta property and two at other Realty Management locations.

Mattie McGilbra is grateful for the actions of a stranger.

"A guy next door to Michael's apartment got him out. I don't even know his name. He saved my son's life and I never thanked him," she said.

In the hospital, she said, Michael simply told her he went to the bathroom and started to light a cigarette and the place exploded.

"The man who lives in the apartment under Michael told me he looked up and saw Michael in the bathroom," McGilbra said.

The walls and floor had collapsed under the force of the explosion, which knocked Michael McGilbra from the bathroom into his bedroom.

The mother said her son used to be a heavy drinker but seldom drinks anymore.

He just works and takes care of his kids, she said.

"We try to help them as much as possible," she said. "The kids love their dad. They worry about their dad."

She said her husband is trying to persuade their son to check into Montevista again to take care of any stress he might be going through.

"His daddy is trying to see that he goes to get help," McGilbra said. "But Michael's scared to go to the doctor. He's afraid he's dying."

Sun reporter Ben Grove contributed to this story.

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