Man pleads guilty for role in Blaine apartment explosion

BLAINE, Minn. — A 29-year-old man pleaded guilty Tuesday in connection to his role in an explosion at an apartment in Blaine that occurred while his young child had been inside.

Lee Boatner filed a petition to enter a guilty plea for one count of explosive/incendiary device violation. The petition requests a second count of that charge be dropped as well as a charge of child endangerment.

Lee Boatner's partner, Tayler Boatner, was also charged in the incident and has a plea hearing scheduled for October.

The explosion happened March 3, 2023, around 1:15 a.m. inside the bedroom of an apartment on the 1100 block of 116th Avenue Northwest, according to court documents. Charges say responding officers found Lee Boatner "covered in blood and appeared to be missing part of both of his hands."

The couple had been inside their apartment along with their 2-year-old son at the time of the explosion. The child did not suffer any injuries but Tayler and Lee Boatner were both hospitalized following the incident.

Inside the apartment, investigators found a substance later identified as triacetone triperoxide, which is "an explosive that can be created with household chemicals," according to the complaint. Investigators said they found all of the components to make the explosive within the apartment. Charges say receipts and surveillance footage showed the Boatners purchased some of the ingredients for the explosive at Walmart.

Authorities searched Lee Boatner's laptop with a warrant and found bookmarks containing the manufacturing process for triacetone triperoxide, as well as searches for "Blaine water table," "poisoning ground water," "Anoka county gis sewer," "buried exolosion [sic]" and more.