An investigation into a rape by the Texas County Sheriff’s Department ended Monday with a bomb squad defusing incendiary devices made by the suspect.
Texas County Sheriff Carl Watson said Steven C. Blazier Jr., 25, of 17354 Boone Creek Road, is charged with second-degree statutory rape and is held in the Texas County Jail on $50,000 bond. Watson explained that Blazier – during the course of the rape investigation – admitted to a deputy that he had incendiary items stashed in a trailer situated west of Licking.
The camper trailer – which was home to Blazier – contained several items that the sheriff said required a Missouri State Highway Patrol bomb squad from Jefferson City to defuse. “We thought it was important to have people who knew what they were doing to defuse it,” Watson said.
Blazier confessed to making the items which included gunshot powder in a fountain pen and another writing instrument that had gunshot pellets stuffed in the interior. Two-liter bottles were filled with gasoline with a detonator cord attached to an old truck’s battery.
The squad successfully defused the apparatuses without incident, Watson said.
The sheriff said Blazier told officers that he intended no harm to anyone but himself by the construction of the items. Watson said he expects no charges to be filed on the incendiary articles.