On March 25, 2020, Evansville Police Department officers were dispatched to 1825 Conlin Avenue in reference to check welfare. The caller reported Michael Meador had made a statement that he wanted to die with all his children. The caller stated they were concerned with Meador`s health and mental state and had information that Meador was in possession of an explosive from a former military friend and that the explosive was located in his backpack which was inside the residence. Â
When officers arrived at the address, Meador was located in the driveway of the home. Meador advised the officers he had simulator explosives in a backpack inside the home. They were described by him as large fireworks. Once it was determined there was an explosive device in the home all the residents were taken out of the home and moved down the street. The Evansville Police Department Hazardous Device Unit (HDU) was called to the scene to investigate. HDU officers located the backpack and recovered four devices inside. Â
Meador advised HDU that his wife and three children recently drove to Florida for vacation. He said that he got into an argument with his wife and she left Florida and returned home to Colorado. Meador stayed in Florida with his three children. At a later time, he began driving back to Colorado. Meador stated he stopped at a military friend’s home in Georgia and his friend gave him the explosive devices. Meador advised he transported the devices from Georgia to Indiana in the bed of his truck. He stopped in Evansville to visit his family and planned on continuing back to Colorado.Â
The devices located included three military-ordnance burst charges and one military-use smoke grenade. Possession of these types of explosive devices pose a danger when not handled properly, are not generally found outside the military and illegal to possess across the country. The Evansville Police Department takes finding these devices seriously; our professional Hazardous Devices Unit is charged with removing such items when called upon. The suspect was charged with Possession of a Destructive Device. If you are aware of items like these in the (illegal) possession of others, please report them to law enforcement by calling 911 or the WeTip line at 1-800-782-7463. Â
Meador was charged with Possession, Transportation, Delivery of a Destructive Device (L5) and booked into the Vanderburgh County Confinement Center. Â
