New documents reveal what led up to Beaver Dam apartment explosion

BEAVER DAM, Wis. (CBS 58) -- March 5 will mark one year since the Beaver Dam apartment explosion.

New documents from the Beaver Dam Police Department reveal what led up to the incident.

The investigation reveals 28-Year-Old Benjamin Morrow may have been at his stove making or working with explosives when he caused an explosion that blew up his apartment and took his life.

When investigators searched his apartment they found what they described as a “homemade explosive laboratory.” They found various chemicals, beakers, a mini fridge full of jars with a chemical that could have been TATP: a homemade explosive. Investigators also found guns and ammunition throughout his apartment.

The fire department had to do a controlled explosion and then burn the building to the ground to make sure no chemicals were left behind.

Morrow worked in quality control at Richelieu Foods in Beaver Dam. His co-workers describe him as a very smart chemist who mostly kept to himself, but his supervisor says he “struggled with exactness.”

Coworkers say he often smelled of mothballs which his supervisor told police contains a chemical explosive.

They say Morrow spent a lot of time on the computer playing “shooting games” and looking up guns and ammunition, enough to “kill an elephant.”

While discussing Florida’s mass shooting coworkers told Morrow, “You better not do that here” and he responded “don’t worry you’ll be the first to get out of here.”

The investigation reveals Morrow also had a storage unit. On the day of the explosion he gave the company a written note that said he would be moved out of it by the end of the month.