Mailbox blast at historic Draper home could be prank gone 'too far'

Built three bricks thick, the Ben Meek home has been a Victorian beauty on Fort Street in Draper since 1899. Now, police are looking for suspects after a cast iron mailbox suddenly exploded this week.

The home's historic charm is one of the many reasons Amy Bouck and her family decided to rent it.

"We've been in Draper for like 12-13 years, and we've driven past here so many times and I've always thought these houses were just so adorable," Bouck said.

Because the home is a city landmark, Bouck was surprised when the mailbox exploded Monday night.

"I was just up in my bedroom that faces out here, just heard the boom, sounded kind of like a bomb and I looked out the window and saw smoke and I didn't know what it was," she explained. "As we got closer, we saw that the mailbox was just in pieces."

Days later, debris from the explosion can still be found over 20 feet away from where the mailbox used to sit.

"If anybody had been around and hit by one of these pieces, they were really sharp pieces, somebody could've gotten hurt," worried Bouck,

Amy believes the explosion wasn't an accident, "because it was raining, there was car tracks that were in front of the mailbox, so it did look like someone had pulled up and maybe put it in the mailbox from their car."

Draper police say material was collected from the scene, but it has yet to be identified. A search is on for suspects and police says they could face charges.

Bouck thinks it might have all been a last-minute summer prank gone too far.

"We have teenagers in the home, so we do get the occasional power boxing," she said. "They come and turn our power off to be funny, nothing ever to this magnitude to destroying property though."

While a prank may seem harmless, police say messing with high-risk materials could come with consequences.

Amy just hopes the suspects are found and learn a valuable lesson.

"I'm all for funny, great you're kids, we all did it growing up," she said. "I think it's just when it starts becoming comes to the point where you destroy property and possibly people can get hurt, that's when I say, 'Oh, you know, that's not cool.'"

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