Man Kills Ex, Self With Elevator Bomb

A man pulled his estranged girlfriend into an elevator in the office building where she worked and set off a homemade bomb, killing them both, authorities and witnesses said.

Authorities responding to an explosion in the elevator of the office building on Wednesday found the bodies of a man and woman inside, and police are investigating it as a murder-suicide.

Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said the deaths appeared to be a "domestic violence situation by use of an incendiary device."

It took authorities about five hours to identify the victims as Raymond Echavarria, 23, and Xiomara Robles, 21, he said.

Blodgett said investigators also looked at Echavarria's car left near the scene to see if it may have been booby-trapped.

Witnesses said the man pulled the woman into the elevator, The Daily Item of Lynn reported.

Police said there was an explosion inside the elevator, engulfing it in flames, shortly after.

Firefighters who arrived at about 2:30 p.m. extinguished the blaze and found the bodies in the elevator compartment on the first floor.

Attorney Phil Lamonica, whose law office shares the common area with a psychiatric clinic where Robles worked as a receptionist/secretary, said he bought lunch on Wednesday for the woman, her young son and another secretary.

"They were all so happy," he told The Daily Item. "They ate lunch in the office and then, because it was such a nice day, they went for a walk."

Lamonica said the women and the boy were laughing and talking when they returned to work, but a short time later Echavarria drove up to the curb. Police said the pair apparently argued near or inside the elevator.

"I heard a lot of screaming," Lamonica said. "At first, we all thought she was trapped in the elevator and had claustrophobia, so we started punching all the buttons. I ran to call the fire department and while I was on the phone, I heard the explosion," he told the newspaper.

The child was left outside the elevator and survived.

The blast shook the three-story building at 150 Market Street, said Sam Gonzales, who was in a dentist's chair on first floor. "The ceiling started coming down so we got out," he told the newspaper.

The building endured severe damage as a result of the explosion. The ceiling in at least two offices collapsed, CBS station WBZ-TV reported.

Two people were taken to local hospitals for minor injuries, Lynn police said.

Court records showed a restraining order had been issued against Echavarria on Jan. 8 after his girlfriend alleged he kidnapped her at knifepoint. She had the restraining order lifted on Jan. 16. Blodgett said Echavarria was scheduled to appear in court on the kidnapping charges on April 17.

"This is a domestic violence situation — once again we have an ugly specter of domestic violence here in Massachusetts," Blodgett said.