The Orbit Inn Motel in Las Vegas is going to be torn down soon to make room for progress.





Back in January 1967 there was a big explosion there when a 28-year old Army deserter decided to commit suicide by firing a gun into a pile made of 50 sticks of dynamite that he'd purchased in Phoenix. Also killed in the blast were his wife and four other people.

"Local and Federal agents alike are searching for a motive and consider revenge or a suspicious husband. "It definitely has to be a suicide or homicide," Franklin said. "If we find anyone registered with the wrong wife or husband we'll have our first clue."

Although classified by authorities as an amateur job, the blast did a job on the motel — collapsing floors to the ground and bringing out part of the roof. Across the motel courtyard windows were knocked out and walls fractured by the blast.

Electric service was disrupted in nearby buildings, including the El Cortez Hotel and casino where an employee said, "the blast felt like it moved the building three inches."

Here is an excellent (but gory) news report of the explosion:

FBI combs blast ruins

Here is why I say it is gory: "One of the sights greeting arriving police officers and ambulances was found on a brown paper bag — a woman's mud-spattered hand with wedding and engagement rings still on a finger.

While A A A and Mercy Ambulance firms pressed all available units into action, making possible shuttle runs to the hospital, six black plastic pouches remained on scene for a while.

Late yesterday, Berkeley Bunker of Bunker Brothers Mortuary, commented upon the size of the bags now resting on the mortuary's garage floor, as well as a blanket and mattress cover parcel beside them. "The reason for the odd sizes, " Bunker said, "is due to the fact the bodies are all dismembered and decapitated. The two small parcels contain hands, feet and tissue. We have orders to leave the bodies right where they are until the FBI or pathologist arrives."

Gritty reporting back then in 1960s Las Vegas.