Kirk D Sayles Obituary

Kirk D Sayles attended Mccluer High School in Florissant, MO. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Kirk D Sayles.

Graduation Year	Class of 1978
Date of Passing	Nov 18, 2012
About	FLORISSANT • A Florissant man poured gasoline in his home and lit it, causing the explosion that killed him early Sunday in an apparent suicide, officials said Monday morning. The body of Kirk Sayles, 52, the lone resident of the home at 22 Floweridge Lane, was found in the back of the home. A suicide note was found in his vehicle, which was parked on the street outside the home, police confirmed Monday. Florissant Police Officer Andy Haarmann said tests detected gasoline inside the debris of the home. "He must have poured or sprayed gas thoughout the house," and then lit it, Haarmann said. "That's the theory." The split-level house ended up in pieces across the yard, with its walls flattened. A small block of wood with the house number “22” rested at the edge of the scene. “It blew it off the foundation,” said Deputy Fire Chief Scott Seppelt of the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District. Firefighters, alerted about 2:50 a.m. Sunday, arrived to find the building in flames and natural gas spewing from a break in the line at the meter. They had to let the flames burn off escaping gas for hours, until Laclede Gas workers with a backhoe could dig up the line at a safe distance and shut off the flow. But it was the gasoline, not natural gas, that caused the explosion. Authorities said the home itself had no natural gas service. It had been shut off at the meter for months. "The initial explosion from the gasoline knocked the house six feet off its foundation," Haarmann said. "That ruptured the natural (gas) line at the main and caused a secondary fire." Haarmann said neighbors told police that Sayles normally parked his vehicle in the driveway. But it was on the street Sunday morning, and officers looked into the car window and saw the suicide note. Haarmann declined to release details of the note. The body was removed about 11:30 a.m. Sunday. A neighbor, Anthony King, 42, said he fled his house in such a rush after the explosion that his pants were inside out and he left his shoes behind. With him went his three children, ages 10-21, and daughter-in-law, 22. None was hurt. The fire was so intense, it melted siding on their home. “It was scary, man, because I had to get my kids out,” he said. King said Sayles was a “good guy” who had lived in the house about 20 years and worked at a nursing home. “He was going through something,” King said. “I don’t know what. ...” A relative said the family had no comment at this time.