Pipe bomb explosion kills Lake County man

The man was found dead on a hillside in Clearlake Park, according to authorities.|
RANDI ROSSMANN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A Clearlake man was killed by metal shrapnel from a pipe bomb he exploded, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.

Justin William Westermeyer, 42, was found June 13 near Clearlake Park’s Pine Dell Resort by deputies who received a call at 8:40 a.m. about a dead body on a nearby hillside, sheriff’s Lt. Corey Paulich said.

Westermeyer had a wound on his left side. Authorities determined he had set off the metal pipe bomb the night before and was hit by a fragment. An autopsy conducted late last week concluded the death was from the explosion, Paulich said in an email. Detectives believed the man was alone at the time.

- Randi Rossmann

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