Townhouse Explosion Doctor Dies

Dr. Nicholas Bartha, suspected of blowing up his townhouse at 34 East 62nd Street last Monday, died yesterday at Cornell Weill Medical Center. Bartha had been in a medically induced coma since firefighters found him in the remains of the townhouse, so he hadn't been questioned by authorities. And no charges were brought against him, though a rambling email he sent right before the explosion (PDF) suggests he did blow it up by tampering with a gas line.

A former colleague, Dr. Emil Negro at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Westchester where Bartha had worked, told the DailY News, "Who would have predicted something like this would happen? There were no signs. If he had gotten proper intervention, maybe it could have prevented all of this." And yesterday, neighbors sued Bartha for damages sustained to their home.

Photograph of 34 East 62nd Street, before the blast, from A9