Face Burns Spark Drug Investigation

WOOD RIVER - Police are investigating a possible meth-making operation after an explosion in the 500 block of Wood River. The explosion was in June 2020, but details of the case became public Friday when a sworn statement was entered into public records.

The injured man, of the 100 block of Whitelaw Avenue in Wood River, had burns to his face and eyes, as well as a laceration to his hand.

The injured man told police he was at a friend’s house in the first block of Ferguson Avenue in Wood River when he looked into a burn barrel and “an unknown substance ignited.”

Firefighters searched the burned man’s apartment in a building on Whitelaw Avenue and found a trash can containing a broken mason jar, which appeared to have been involved in an explosion.

Firefighters told police that perhaps the laceration was caused by the damaged mason jar. A woman who lives near the burn victim told officers that the burned man-made meth was under a highway overpass; however, no evidence was found at that location.

The burn victim has a record of unlawful possession of manufacturing materials, but no charges have been filed in the most recent case.

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