Blast victim, 2nd body linked?

Police are looking into a possible connection between a man who died Tuesday in an explosion at an east Pierce County home and the slaying of a man whose body was found a day earlier at a Seattle construction site, authorities said.

Zane Dittman, 26, died in an explosion that destroyed a house in the 7100 block of 162nd Street Court East south of Puyallup, where he had been renting a room, authorities said.

Dittman was a sex offender with convictions for possession of stolen property, riot with a deadly weapon and unlawful imprisonment, according to police and the state Department of Corrections.

Construction workers at the site where the body was found Monday said Dittman at one time worked for a subcontractor on the project. They declined to be named.

Marc Stiles, a spokesman for OPUS Northwest, lead contractor on the office-building project at Seventh Avenue and Madison Street in Seattle, said Dittman was never employed by the company but may have been employed by a subcontractor.

Pierce County and Seattle police declined to comment on a possible connection between Dittman and the Seattle construction site. The man whose body was found at the site was identified Wednesday as Noel Lopez.

"We are in touch with Seattle and have given them information," said Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer.

Lopez, 25, died of massive head and torso trauma, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said. Construction workers at the site found the slain man about 8 a.m. Monday.

Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson said Wednesday only that no suspects have been ruled out in Lopez's death.

The couple who own and live at the Puyallup-area house destroyed in the blast told deputies that when they returned home about 11 p.m. Monday, they saw Dittman with a cache of explosives. Troyer said it's believed he was making the explosives.

The couple called 911, and when deputies walked into the home and made eye contact with Dittman, he grabbed shrapnel-packed explosives and headed upstairs, Troyer said.

Deputies and the couple fled the house, and about 10 minutes later a large explosion rocked the neighborhood, Troyer said. Most of the house was destroyed.

Troyer said investigators believe Dittman intentionally caused the explosion.

"He was trapped. He wasn't going anywhere," Troyer said. "We're guessing he intentionally set it off."

The couple told deputies that they met Dittman through a Craigslist ad, Troyer said.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times staff reporter Haley Edwards and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.