A small Tennessee county is in mourning after an explosion at an ammunition processing plant last week is believed to have killed everyone who was inside.
The blast Friday was reported at Accurate Energetic Systems near McEwen, Tennessee, at around 7:45 a.m., leaving behind only scattered debris. Officials reported a day after the explosion that there were no survivors, adding that 16 people who were in the privately owned facility were unaccounted for.
A candlelight vigil was held Sunday outside the Humphreys County Courthouse to mourn the 16 presumed victims of the blast. Crowds of people could be seen paying their respects with lit candles.
On Monday, a list of the victims was released: Jason Adams, Erick Anderson, Billy Baker, Adam Boatman, Christopher Clark, Mindy Clifton, James Cook, Reyna Gillahan, LaTeisha Mays, Jeremy Moore, Melinda Rainey, Melissa Stanford, Trenton Stewart, Rachel Woodall, Steven Wright and Donald Yowell.
As the cause of the blast remains under investigation, more is coming to light about the victims.
Trenton Stewart
Stewart, 25, is missing and presumed dead as a result of the Friday morning explosion.
His fiancée, Katy Stover, described him as the best man she has ever met.
“I don’t know what I can even say to make anyone understand the man he was,” Stover wrote in a Facebook post. “He made me laugh until I couldn’t breathe, and he was truly my best friend, my soulmate, and my person.”
According to Stewart’s Facebook page, he was a pastor at a church in Waverly, Tennessee. In a post, he said that his goal as a pastor “isn’t to have the biggest crowd, or to be the most perfect person, but to show the love of Christ in whatever way possible.”
The last livestream from one of his sermons was posted on Oct. 5.
LaTeisha Mays
Mays, 26, is unaccounted for, her family told NBC affiliate WSMV. She worked for Accurate Energetic Systems for eight months.
Her family described her as “the glue to our family.”
Steven Wright
Wright’s wife, Melinda, is mourning her husband.
“How could I have known that 24 hours ago I would have watched those taillights disappear for the last time!” she posted to her Facebook account the day after the explosion.
The couple shared two boys.
Rachel Woodall
Woodall was a production operator at Accurate Energetic Systems, according to her Facebook profile.
Her boyfriend, Nathan Birchard, remembered her as his angel.
“You brought color into my world that was otherwise dark and grey,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “You made me a better man and always made me wanna strive to be better. We had dreams and a future that we was planning just to be taken away in a instant.”
Birchard said Woodall “touched so many lives.”
“You never would’ve realized the impact you have made on those around you,” he wrote.
Christopher Clark
Clark’s sister, Peggy Wood, said he was known as “Buck.”
“He never met a stranger and was loved by everyone,” Wood told NBC News. “He is greatly missed by his family. This is a loss we will never get over.”
Clark was the youngest of all his siblings, his sister said.
“There was 9 years between us,” she said. “We were the ‘babies’ out of nine.”
Melissa Stanford
Stanford was a mother, daughter, sister and aunt, according to her niece, Brittany Kirouac.
Kirouac said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spoke to families of the victims on the day of the blast and told them “there was a zero percent chance of survival.”
“Keep our family in your prayers, send good vibes, whatever you do,” Kirouac wrote in a Facebook post.
Jeremy Moore
On Friday, Moore’s mother, Ava Hinson, asked for prayers for her son after hearing there had been an explosion at his workplace.
She described her son, who lived near her, as “sweet as sugar.”
“I call him ‘my little boy’ and he would tell you that he was my little boy and he was about 6′ 7″ and weighs about 300 pounds,” Hinson told NBC News on Saturday.
Moore had been working in the munitions industry for almost 19 years, his father, Gary Moore, said. On the day of the blast, he dropped his daughter off at his mother’s house and went to work as he normally would.
“At 7:45 a.m., the day turned very abnormal, and here we are,” Gary Moore said.
Hinson went to visit her son’s house after hearing about the blast, hopeful that she would find him.
“And it hit me, just a few minutes ago, that he won’t be back,” Hinson said.
Moore would have turned 38 on Oct. 20.
Jason Adams
Adams and his wife, Valerie, just celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary, she said in a Facebook post.
“How am I suppose to live without my soulmate, love of my life and my best friend,” she wrote.
Billy Baker
Baker’s cousin, Emily Tate, announced his death on Facebook the day after the blast.
“Billy always seemed big and sturdy — larger than life,” Tate wrote. “He always had a smile and a hug for me, his ‘little cuz.'”
Tate asked for prayers for his wife, sons and grandchildren.
Mindy Clifton
A friend of Clifton’s remembered her as “a big personality wrapped around a caring heart,” while another said she took him under her wing at the start of his career in the corrections industry.
“When we last spoke, I told you ‘I Love you’ and your response was…’I love you too brother,’ so i have absolutely no regrets,” JayVion Mcvadian wrote.
Reyna Gillahan
Gillahan’s daughter, Rosalina, said her mother’s dream was to pay off her home.
“She was a beautiful soul — loving, strong, and always thinking of others before herself,” Rosalina Gillahan wrote in a Facebook post.
Donald Yowell
A friend of Yowell’s said, “his love, his laughter, and his hugs were all larger than life.”
Ashlee Oliver asked for prayers for his family and loved ones, and advised everyone to live life the way he did.
“And in honor of Don… be kind, forgive easily, and love well,” Oliver wrote in a Facebook post. “All things he did perfectly.”
Melinda Rainey
Rainey was passionate about WWE, according to her nephew’s wife, Kimberly Thomas-Thorn.
“She was one of the sweetest, kindest people I’ve met,” she wrote. “I’m going to miss her talking about WWE wrestling and aggravating Josh about TN vs BAMA.”