• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Bride and groom have their home blown up by wedding guest who slipped away during ceremony

Home> News> US News

Updated 20:08 3 Mar 2025 GMTPublished 20:07 3 Mar 2025 GMT

Bride and groom have their home blown up by wedding guest who slipped away during ceremony

The suspect, Anthony Avila-Puebla, died in the blast

Liv Bridge

Liv Bridge

It was meant to be the happiest day of their lives, but the newlyweds faced tragedy when their wedding guest slipped away and reportedly blew up their home.

Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos were tying the knot the day after Valentine's Day when their Cicero, Chicago, home suddenly went up in flames.

The house exploded in the 2200 block of Central Avenue, while police said the suspect, who had been attending the wedding, was found in the rubble.

The damage caused from the blast (ABC7Chicago)
The damage caused from the blast (ABC7Chicago)

Advert

The damage of the blast was so severe, it displaced 11 other families in neighbouring properties that had also caught fire from the explosion.

Speaking to WGNTV after the incident, the bride said: "I ran here in my wedding dress, like down the alley, and was watching from a neighbor’s yard.

Eleni Vrettos said she was in 'shock' (ABC 7 Chicago)
Eleni Vrettos said she was in 'shock' (ABC 7 Chicago)

"Everything was just smoke at that point,” she said after revealing she was told about the eruption just moments after saying 'I do'.

Advert

"I was still in my wedding dress, heels, no jacket, just standing and, yeah, just in shock," Vrettos added.

Meanwhile, her husband had to wear his wedding dress shoes, as they were the only shoes he had after losing everything to the blaze.

"Our first concern, of course, was our cats," he said. "And once we realized that there was nothing we could do, we returned to the reception, where we could at least be around people that loved and cared about us."

Anthony Avila-Puebla's body was found in the blast (Cicero Police Department/ABC 7 Chicago)
Anthony Avila-Puebla's body was found in the blast (Cicero Police Department/ABC 7 Chicago)

Advert

A body was then recovered from the debris and has now been identified as 31-year-old Anthony Avila-Puebla.

Police suspect the man blew up the house after having momentarily attending the wedding as a guest.

Cops say the man was also in a relationship with someone who lived in the house but did not disclose who, as per NY Post.

Surveillance footage shows Avila-Puebla parked his car about half a block away from the house while the wedding was in full swing and was taking jugs of 'some sort of flammable liquid' into the building.

Advert

Police claim he doused the home and caused it to set on fire but never came back out.

Although more than $57,000 has been raised for the couple via GoFundMe at the time of writing, the bride says she is mourning the loss of the family home she grew up in.

"The building belonged to my family for almost 40 years. Yeah, I grew up here, so I live, lived here, and I work in the community. And I mean, Cicero is all I really know," she said.

Featured Image Credit: ABC 7 Chicago/Tom Davis and Eleni Vrettos

Topics: Chicago, Crime, GoFundMe, US News

Liv Bridge
Liv Bridge

Liv Bridge is a digital journalist who joined the UNILAD team in 2024 after almost three years reporting local news for a Newsquest UK paper, The Oldham Times. She's passionate about health, housing, food and music, especially Oasis...

X

@livbridge

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Bride left devastated walking into empty wedding venue after guests failed to show up
  • Groom’s mom wins $2,300,000 lawsuit after freak accident during wedding ceremony left her with ‘permanent’ injuries
  • Drunk driver breaks down in tears as she addresses groom whose wife she killed on wedding day
  • Family-of-four lives in tiny house village where children each have their own home

Choose your content:

8 mins ago
11 mins ago
an hour ago
  • 8 mins ago

    Daughter’s heartbreaking words in court as dad is found guilty of killing her mom with poisoned protein shake

    James Craig has been jailed for methodically poisoning his wife

    News
  • 11 mins ago

    'Dear friend' of Liam Neeson's late wife reveals exactly what he said to him amid Pamela Anderson 'romance'

    Liam Neeson's wife Natasha Richardson died in 2009 in a skiing accident

    Celebrity
  • an hour ago

    Symptoms of Lyme disease explained after Justin Timberlake reveals 'shock' diagnosis

    Justin Timberlake described the condition as 'relentlessly debilitating'

    News
  • an hour ago

    Eye-watering amount ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is set to cost taxpayers every year

    Florida's new migrant detention center opened on July 1

    News