University Historian Killed By Explosion Victim Was Linked To Utah’s 1985 Forgery-Bombing Case

An explosion ripped through the home of one of the foremost collectors of early western and Mormon writings on Sunday, killing him and leveling his house.

A.J. Simmonds, 52, a renowned historian at Utah State University, was found beneath debris that came crashing down when the roof collapsed. He was apparently alone in the house.

The explosion appeared to have been caused by natural gas and authorities were investigating whether Simmonds had committed suicide, Cache County Sheriff Sid Groll said late Sunday.

Simmonds had been depressed and had separated from his wife, Jeannie, about a week ago, Groll said.

The morning blast shook the rural neighborhood in Trenton, about 80 miles north of Salt Lake. Firefighters had to put out several small blazes.

Simmonds was curator of the university’s renowned collection of western Americana.

He found himself in the news a decade ago as one of the first historians to question the authenticity of early Mormon documents peddled by collector Mark Hofmann.

The documents were later found to be part of a forgery scheme. Hofmann tried to cover up the scheme in 1985 by using pipe bombs to destroy documents and ended up killing two people instead. He pleaded guilty and is serving a life term at the Utah State Prison.