Authorities allege insurance money a motive in East Blancas house explosion

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Devon Bellows, 42, was arrested on Sunday and booked into the Coryell County jail with a bond of $210,000, due to her role in what investigators allege led to the explosion of a residence on East Blancas Drive on May 24.

The arrest complaint filed on June 14 shows an alleged arson-for-hire scheme.

The property owner, Judy Bellows, also referred to as Devon’s mother in the arrest complaint, was not home at the time of the incident, and Devon and her son were not on the property either.

However, some items had been removed from the residence prior to the explosion, one of things that investigators said that often, items important to the occupant and/or arsonist would be removed from a structure prior to arson.

Bellows had ties to Landon Lower who was severely injured at the explosion and then later succumbed to injuries after being transported to Seton Medical Center in Austin.

According to the arrest complaint, Bellows and Lower had been in communication via phone prior to the explosion.

Bellows first told police that she had given Lower the key to her home while she was away and she didn’t know why he would be at the house at that particular time.

However, her phone record showed that she communicated with Lower multiple times via phone, starting the evening before and continuring through the morning of the explosion.

At 4:08 a.m. the morning of explosion, Devon texted, "Landon please come on. This is our last chance. It will take you like five minutes and then go do whatever you are doing. If you didn't want to do it, you should have just said so. I don't understand why you haven't done it already.” Devon followed this message by saying, "Please tell me you are good and it's done?”

At one point, Bellows had deleted some of the messages from her phone before it was seized, according to the complaint.

The explosion had been planned farther back than May 24, with Bell County Jail phone calls between Bellows and a male inmate in which they discussed both Lower and the arson plan on May 12. Bellows told authorities that this inmate was a mutual friend.

The arrest complaint stated that during that discussion, the inmate commented, "If I don't get out in time, get Landon to do it." The inmate also stated that "the job" would "be easy, as long as he gets in and out."

The inmate also told Bellows to give Lower half of the money she would get from the planned job.

Then, during another Bell County jail phone call after the explosion, Bellows told the inmate that the police had seized her phone, but that she didn't think there was anything on it because she and Landon spoke in person.