Coroner investigates Joshua Jensen’s death from explosion
IT WAS like an episode of Breaking Bad, Joshua Jensen was making a lethal drug concoction when he was killed in an explosion.
JOSHUA Jensen’s death was like an episode of Breaking Bad.
He was making a drug concoction that he thought was going to make him a millionaire when the garage exploded and he was killed.
Leading up to his death, Mr Jensen was stressed because he allegedly owed somebody $20,000.
The Coroners Court of Victoria investigated his death and found Mr Jensen was involved in some things he couldn’t get out of.
He had fears somebody was going to kill him and nobody could help him.
Two weeks before his death he told his father he was scared of some people that were chasing him and he felt like he was in danger.
Mr Jensen took amphetamines and was involved in pseudoephedrine extraction.
On April 4 2012, Mr Jensen and a friend went to Dandenong and he picked up a drum of liquid filled with toluene, a chemical that smells like paint thinner, from an unknown person.
Mr Jensen and the friend then went back to his father’s home in Berwick, where Mr Jensen used an electric wok and kettle in the garage to prepare the pseudoephedrine extraction, using the liquid he picked up earlier.
Mr Jensen smoked amphetamines with his friend and friend’s girlfriend.
The friend noticed strong fumes from the extraction process and vapours were flowing onto the bench and the friend told Mr Jensen he was being careless.
The coroner found Mr Jensen just laughed and said it was going to make him a millionaire.
He told his friend two people were going to come over for the liquid he had.
Mr Jensen’s friends left his house about 1.30am on April 5 and about two hours later, everything got out of hand.
Mr Jensen’s father Peter woke up when he heard loud thuds and the sounds of a hammer hitting concrete.
He heard screams from a man who sounded like his son and he ran towards the garage.
He saw the flames spewing out from underneath the garage door.
He ran to the front of the garage, where one of three roller doors was open, and yelled at his son.
Mr Jensen’s father grabbed a hose and attempted to douse the fire but it was too late.
Meanwhile, the neighbours were also woken by Mr Jensen’s screams.
They also heard another voice yell “quick, clean up this mess before someone sees it”.
The neighbours then heard something that sounded like a car door shutting and the engine starting and driving away.
The coroner said it was still unknown who this person could have been.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Glen Hatton from the Arson and Explosive Squad told the coroners court Mr Jensen’s body was later found under rubble from a fallen roof.
He was laying on a digital thermometer.
Forensic Services Centre scientist John Kelleher told the Coroners Court it was strange the thermometer was with Mr Jensen’s body.
He said while they are easy to get, they were only common in trade or industrial settings, and not often in the home.
It made him believe there was the possibility Mr Jensen was doing some sort of temperature checking in the garage.
Detective Hatton believed there was some kind of fuel vapour explosion.
He said toluene, the chemical Mr Jensen picked up the day before the explosion, would burst into flames if heated to a temperature higher than 140C.
Despite Mr Jensen’s friend telling him to “be careful”, it is believed he continued heating the liquid when his friend left the home.
Deputy State Coroner Ian West said despite Mr Jensen owing money and people threatening his life, he did not believe the explosion and fire happened deliberately.
He said if somebody was trying to kill Mr Jensen, they would have also died in the garage.
The coroner ruled Mr Jensen died as a result of the fire and explosion.
It is believed he was conducting a chemical reduction process, that resulted in an escape of the toluene chemical, which was then ignited.