Explosive Device Found in Marlow Home

The new owners of a home on south Highway 81 got a bit of a surprise while starting renovations on Friday: an explosive device found on the property.

Dorothy Dobey Soles and her husband just bought the house so they could be closer to family in the area and they were having some work done on the heating and air system.

“The guy who was taking the old unit out just looked up to a shelf right next to it and there it was,” Soles said. “He was just going to throw it away but once he got to looking at it, he thought it could be a pipe bomb.”

Soles said that they left the device on the lawn and called law enforcement.

Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney said that deputies thought the device looked suspicious, and they contacted the Oklahoma Highway Patrol bomb squad unit. The OHP squad took the item to have it x-rayed and confirmed that it was explosive.

“There’s no telling how old it is or how large of an explosion it would make,” McKinney said.

McKinney said that the house has gone through several owners and renters in recent years, so it will be difficult to identify who made it and who left it there.

Deputies performed a search of the property and did not find additional devices.

Soles said that they are continuing renovations. “I wish they’d get some dog sniffers out here,” she said. “I’d like to know for sure that there’s nothing else on the property.”