Three of four deaths in a house explosion in Edmonton, Alberta, during the weekend have been ruled homicides, officials said.
The Sunday afternoon explosion in a residential neighborhood leveled the house and a nearby dwelling, knocked two homes off their foundations and damaged 19 others, fire officials said.
Authorities had to evacuate about 70 people from the area.
Two of the victims, Cathleen Heard, 47, and Dwayne Richard Poirier, 46, owned the house that exploded, and two, Craig Donald Huber, 29, and Bradley Warren Winter, 26, lived in the house next to the blast site, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday.
The medical examiner's office said it determined the explosion was the cause of death of Huber and Winter and was conducting tests to determine the cause of death of Heard and Poirier.
Court documents indicated Poirier and Heard had a stormy, three-year relationship, with both alleging physical and verbal abuse and filing
restraining orders against each other, the CBC said.
Police said they were investigating what caused the blast, and would not say if it was a murder-suicide.
"We're still awaiting medical examiner results from the fourth victim so I can't answer" whether the explosion was a murder-suicide try, Edmonton
police inspector Darren Eastcott said. "You can't go into this investigation and assume things are the way you see it. You have to look at everything, you have to follow up with all kinds of evidence."