An explosion, likely fueled by a gas leak, leveled a venerable East-Side brownstone, showering the upscale block with glass shards and filling the neighborhood with heavy, acrid smoke.
Investigators Monday were looking into whether the doctor who owned the building, Nicholas Bartha, 66, turned on the gas and tried to kill himself and destroy the building as a final, bitter salvo in a long-running divorce battle.
Hours before the blast, police sources said, Bartha e-mailed a 15-page, single-spaced letter to his ex-wife and 20 others, blaming her for hardships in his life, said a police official with knowledge of the situation.
"When you read this ... your life will change forever," Bartha wrote in the message. "You deserve it. You will be transformed from gold digger to ash and rubbish digger. You always wanted me to sell the house. I always told you I will leave the house only if I am dead."
The five-alarm blast just after 8:40 a.m. at 34 E. 62nd St. injured 15 people, including six civilians -- one in critical condition and one in serious condition -- and nine firefighters, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Rescuers pried Bartha, who had burns to 70 percent of his body, from beneath 30 feet of flaming rubble after he made a cell-phone call or shouted to them.
Hopefully the innocent people caught up in this guy's madness will recover.
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