Man found dead in U. Chichester apartment

It started with a call from parents about a son who had not been to work for a week and had not been in touch with them.

It ended with an explosion in a Delaware County apartment, an unexplained fire, and the body of the occupant found in the bathroom.

Police in Upper Chichester Township called it a minor miracle that the fire was caught before it endangered neighbors, some of whom were elderly or infirm and had to be evacuated.

Shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday, Upper Chichester police had gone to unit S-8 of the Meetinghouse Apartments on the 3100 block of Meetinghouse Road. They had hoped to check on the occupant, David Wargny, whose parents in Palmyra had been unable to reach him.

Just after officers arrived, an explosion sounded in the upstairs apartment, smoke was seen coming from the roof, and the exterior of the front door was hot to the touch, police said.

Officers summoned firefighters, who put out the blaze and found Wargny, 32, dead in the bathroom.

Police would not disclose the cause of Wargny's death. But his mother said in a telephone interview that he apparently had shot himself.

Carolyn Wargny said her son had struggled with bipolar disorder, and "had been very cavalier about taking his medications properly. I guess if there is any good to come of this it would be to bring attention to this problem."

Police also declined to discuss the possible cause of the fire pending the results of an investigation.

The situation could have been far worse, Upper Chichester Police Sgt. John Webb said, if police had not arrived when the fire was just starting. Many of Wargny's neighbors, he said, were elderly or handicapped and could not have been quickly evacuated.

"It's a miracle, really," Webb said. "Had we not gotten them out, and that fire had been able to accelerate without the early detection we had, it could have been a very tragic result."

Webb said the fire did not appear to have been in the bathroom, where Wargny's body was found.

"From what I saw, the living room seemed to be the concentration of the fire," Webb said. "There is scorching on the walls, but probably more smoke damage than flame damage."

The fire was quickly extinguished, but residents in at least 11 units of the two-story apartment building were unable to return throughout the afternoon.

For several hours, investigators were reluctant to linger in the apartment until a hazardous-materials expert had cleared it.

Upper Chichester Police Officer Michael Smalarz confirmed that chemicals in the apartment had prompted the precautions. "We don't know yet what they are," Smalarz said.

Wargny's parents had called Delaware County emergency dispatchers after they were unable to reach him.

"We got here, knocked on the door, and waited," Smalarz said. About two minutes after the initial knock, he said, "there was an explosion in the apartment."

Police and fire investigators declined to say whether the fire caused the explosion or whether the explosion led to the fire.

Carolyn Wargny said her son was fascinated with chemistry and usually had laboratory equipment in his home.

He had a degree in chemistry and worked as a computer programming and software expert, she said. But he had not been at work last week and had not responded to her calls and e-mails.

She described her son as "a brilliant kid; gentle and sensitive."

But without proper medication, she said, he tended to make poor decisions.

"The insidious thing about being bipolar is that it is the judgment centers of the brain that are affected the most," she said. "That is the sad thing, and part of the problem is that mental illness has such a stigma that people are afraid to discuss it."