Local & State Headlines

Blast linked to Albany meth lab

• An explosion causes a neighborhood to be evacuated and leads authorities to a Maryland Drive drug lab.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — The Albany residence where a “barely concious” Lee County teen was last seen alive before his death from a November methadone overdose was the scene Saturday of a methamphetamine lab explosion.

What sounded like gunfire around 3:20 p.m. Saturday at the 1605 Maryland Drive boarding house turned out to be the explosion of combustible materials used to make the drug methamphetamine, Albany Police Department spokeswoman Phyllis Banks said.

Neighbor April Morris rushed towels to a man “staggering from the house,” his flesh visible from wounds he sustained, Morris said.

“He said he blew up the lab,” Morris said. “He kept saying, I’m so sorry. He asked me to pray for him.”

The man, Matt Olsen, 20, was transported to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, Banks said. A hospital spokesperson said Olsen was in good condition Saturday.

Approximately 25 residents had to be evacuated from their homes but were able to return after Albany firefighters put out the fire, Banks said.

Olsen told witnesses he was alone in the house, except for his dogs, who did not appear to be injured, she said.

AFD’s hazardous materials unit and the Albany Dougherty Drug Unit stayed at the scene for several hours Saturday.

The house is the same address where a Lee County man, Matt Blankenship, stopped by with his “barely conscious” friend Jarrod Willis around 3 a.m. Nov. 10, according to previous reports.

Blankenship was indicted last week in Leesburg for involuntary manslaughter and concealing a death after Willis, 19, was found dead a few hours later at his parents’ Fussell Road residence in Lee County.

Toxicology results showed Willis, a student at Georgia Southwestern State University, died from an overdose of methadone, a drug used to treat heroin addition, previous reports said.

Neighbors Randy and Shirley Swain said “young adults” were frequently “in and out” at the Maryland Drive residence, though they did not suspect illegal drugs.

“That just scares me,” Shirley Swain said.

Another neighbor did, saying that even after Willis’ death, “the party” kept on. “Like nothing had happened.”

Banks said the incident Saturday remains under investigation and that charges are pending.

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