Clinton Home Explosion: Couple Committed Suicide, Officials Say (UPDATED)

CLINTON, CT — The office of the chief medical examiner has determined that the Clinton couple who died from injuries after their mobile home exploded last week committed suicide, according to police. Leo Hinkley, 64, died last Friday, and his wife, 61-year-old Candace Hinkley, passed away on Saturday. They were both airlifted to Bridgeport Hospital with serious injuries after they were extricated from the burning wreckage early Thursday morning (Sept. 21).

The criminal investigation into the event determined that both victims were suffering from very serious medical and health issues prior to the explosion and recently had become very depressed, according to Sgt. Jeremiah Dunn.

“Prior to succumbing to her injuries, Candace Hinkley made a statement to a Clinton Police Detective that the pair had previously planned to kill themselves together and that her husband had been manipulating the gas fire fireplace a day prior, in an attempt to asphyxiate the couple,” Dunn said in an update on Thursday afternoon.

The state fire marshal and local fire marshal haven’t concluded their investigations, according to Dunn. (To sign up for Clinton breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

At about 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 21, Clinton’s Emergency Communications Center began receiving calls reporting a loud explosion and a home being shaken. Within minutes, the call center was “inundated with calls reporting the same thing” from multiple areas of town, according to police.

Then at about 12:34 a.m., dispatchers received a call that said there was a fire at the Evergreen Park Complex on Killingworth Turnpike. Emergency crews responded to the area and found that a mobile home had “been completely destroyed by an explosion,” police said last week.

The effects of the blast were felt for several miles, according to police.

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