Man Uses Excavator to Destroy House in Washington

Video: KXLY
By: Thomas Clouse
Source: The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. (TNS)

Nov. 13—POST FALLS—Whoever jumped into a Komatsu excavator Tuesday morning and proceeded to systematically destroy a Post Falls home displayed mad skills.

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“He just crushed it,” said a foreman Thursday as he looked at the pile of rubble mostly made of crushed two-by-fours, broken particle wood and pink insulation. “I mean he worked at it.”

The only thing left standing of the home on Thursday, located at the corner of Alsea Loop and West Platte Avenue, was a single column that previously held up the front porch of the home. Prior to its assault, the house had just been completed and was pending sale, listed at $506,000.

Crews had worked with a different excavator to pile the rubble inside the basement foundation of the home. Including all the appliances, the only things that could be salvaged were a handful of wooden beams, two toilets and a double-sink bathroom vanity.

The removal of the twisted, broken remnants of the home had been halted pending asbestos testing, even though the home was brand new.

“It was complete destruction,” said the foreman, who for job security reasons, did not want to give his name.

Search for answers

Post Falls police on Tuesday announced that they had arrested 29-year-old Fred J. Kudrna IV on charges of DUI, felony burglary and felony malicious injury to property. He appeared in court on Wednesday but he remains in custody at the Kootenai County Jail on a $75,000 bond.

Kudrna is next scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing, where investigators lay out their basis for charging him, on Nov. 21.

However, court records do not explain any motive as to why Kudrna or anyone else felt the need to kill a house.

The destroyed structure was among the last-completed row of homes that are part of a Greenstone development. To the north of those brand new homes on West Platte Avenue is a dirt field.

On Thursday, the same Komatsu excavator that crushed the house was busy digging a foundation for yet another new home.

While Kudrna told officers he was working a job in the area, the disgruntled employee theory apparently does not fly. A Greenstone human resources representative on Thursday confirmed that Kudrna was not an employee of that company.

Based on reports from several eye witnesses of a black van fleeing the area, Post Falls Police officer Lukas Crigger on Tuesday contacted the driver of a van matching that description parked about four blocks away from where the house had earlier been crushed.

After calling for backup and performing a “high-risk” arrest of Kudrna, Crigger wrote in police records that he asked the driver what he was doing in the area.

Kudrna, according to court records, told Crigger that “he works construction in the area and was on his way to a nearby jobsite from Rathdrum.”

He also said he was living in his 1997 Chevy 2500 Express van in the area of Prairie Avenue and Lancaster Road in Rathdrum.

“Fred admitted he drove his vehicle to Compass Loop to avoid law enforcement, as he saw police vehicles searching the area and he was worried about consuming alcohol prior to driving his vehicle,” Crigger wrote.

Crigger noted that Kudrna appeared to have bloodshot eyes, he could smell alcohol on Kudrna’s breath and Kudrna had slurred speech.

“When asked, Fred told me he consumed four Monaco beers and a 13% ABV cocktail last night. Fred later admitted he also consumed a partial can of Monaco when he woke up this morning,” Crigger wrote. “I asked Fred about medications and he told me the medication he takes is Suboxone” which is used to help with long-term recovery from opioid addiction.

After refusing to provide breath samples to test blood alcohol content, Kudrna was placed under arrest.

Told by Crigger that several witnesses had reported someone matching his description fleeing the area in a van, Kudrna replied: “That’s crazy.”

“I asked Fred if he drove an excavator this morning and used it to demolish a house,” Crigger wrote. “He told me he no longer wanted to answer questions.”

House eating machine

Nate Shoemaker, 32, lives next door to the home that had just come off the market as it was pending sale, he said. Shoemaker, his wife and their children just moved into their home two months ago.

On Tuesday, Shoemaker said he awoke to a noise at about 5:40 a.m.

“I heard something. I thought it was trash cans getting blown down on the side of the house,” he said.

Shoemaker shares a not-yet -completed fence line with the crushed home.

“I opened my blinds and looked to see if the trampoline had blown away. But I saw the lights in the fog,” he said, relaying how he tried to make sense of what he saw. “Then I saw the bucket reach up over the roof and it just tore through the house.

“I ran out here. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ “ he said. “I ran back inside and checked on the family.”

For an instant, Shoemaker did not know if whoever was crushing the neighbor’s home would just keep coming.

“If he came this way, I had to figure out a way to stop him. Let’s just say, I was ready,” he said without elaborating. “It’s Idaho.”

But almost as quickly as the flurry of activity occurred, the driver backed the massive machine out and drove it north toward the construction site.

Witnesses, including Shoemaker, then saw someone drive out of the area in a black van.

He heard the gas meter flowing from the crushed house. “So I went over with a screwdriver and shut the gas off.”

Prior to the excavator incident, neighbors had noticed someone sleeping in their vehicle in the area.

“People in the neighborhood watch had chatted about a creepy van hanging out in the neighborhood,” he said.

After witnessing the excavator crushing the house, Shoemaker said he twice called police.

But he learned that other neighbors had earlier called Post Falls authorities after hearing someone start the large engine of the Komatsu at a time Tuesday morning when it was too early for construction crews to be working.

Not until the driver fled in the van did police arrive.

Post Falls Police officer Cody Childers wrote in the report that he responded to the call by Shoemaker and others about someone demolishing a home. He arrived to find the destruction.

“At this point, I had concern people were inside this residence during the incident,” Childers wrote. “I observed several people standing outside and contacted them. I immediately asked if this house was occupied which I was told ‘No.’ “

He then spoke with Shoemaker and other witnesses and learned about the black van. One witness told Childers the driver was wearing an orange shirt.

Childers later heard that Officer Crigger had found a van nearby matching the witness descriptions.

The officers noted Kudnra had fresh mud on his boots. On the passenger seat, they found an orange jacket.

Crigger then had one of the witnesses come to the van where they had detained Kudrna. She “positively identified Fred’s vehicle as the vehicle the suspect entered and fled the area in after demolishing the residence,” court records state.

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