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A jealous dad allegedly admitted to blowing up his house while his girlfriend and their children were inside — saying he planned to kill them all to see them in “hell,” according to police.
Jacob Rabb, 41, was arrested this week after he allegedly confessed to causing the massive blast at the home in Plum, Pennsylvania, nearly four years ago “to kill himself, his ex-girlfriend, and his children,” police wrote in an affidavit obtained by Penn Live.
His then-girlfriend, Laura Petty, initially thought he was a hero who’d saved them and their kids, ages 2, 6 and 11, from their “worst nightmare,” telling cops, “If it wasn’t for Jake, we wouldn’t have made it out.”
But a year later, after she filed for an order of protection, she allegedly found a chilling handwritten note in her kitchen cabinets that said, “If I can’t have her no one will or my kids see you all in hell.”
“P.S. I blew up the house,” he also wrote on a note, according to the affidavit.
Rabb later broke into his ex’s house on June 10, 2023 — more than a year after the blast — and allegedly held a knife to her throat while threatening to kill her, according to authorities.
“Let’s play a little game,” he said menacingly before slicing his arm and threatening to provoke police to shoot him, according to the affidavit.
Rabb was arrested the next day and told cops during the break-in he “disconnected the gas valve” from his ex’s dryer and then turned on the gas.
He denied causing the 2022 explosion, saying he wrote the confessional note because he was suicidal. But he confessed to at least two other people, including his father, the affidavit said.
“Dad, I blew up the house,” Rabb’s father told investigators his son told him, according to the court docs.
The supervisor of a sober living home where Rabb stayed in November 2025 also told police Rabb admitted that he had planned to kill himself, his ex and their children — after a last meal at a Buffalo Wild Wings.
Police found Rabb’s home the night of the explosion engulfed in flames around 11:30 p.m. with the windows blown out and the garage door flung into the street. Two other homes suffered thousands of dollars in damages.
Rabb and Petty told cops they were asleep in bed when the ceiling collapsed on them Their 11-year-old son who was playing video games in the basement escaped with first-degree burns. The couple fled the house safely with their 2- and 6-year-old sons.
A deputy fire marshal ruled the explosion was arson stemming from “natural gas vapors intentionally released through manual manipulation of a gas line,” the affidavit said.
Rabb was arrested Monday and hit with 25 charges, including attempted homicide and arson. He is locked up at the Allegheny County Prison without bail.
He is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on March 18.
English (US)