Explosives at Torrance County home

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The Torrance County Sheriff says 80-year-old Michael O'Keefe created highly-sensitive explosives in his own backyard.

He passed away in November and his dangerous toys were sitting in his lab ever since; until the landlord stumbled across them early Friday morning.

The landlord called the Torrance County Sheriff who says O'Keefe turned his sheds into an explosive manufacturing plant.

"We're not talking a small little lab. We have high dollar equipment and large production equipment inside his lab," said Sheriff Heath White who added that the two buildings behind the home contained a full lab and storage full of chemicals.

A box in the backyard was used to house the finished explosives. Sheriff White said it looked like someone had tried to break into it.

"The locks were broken off and the finished product was still inside, nothing had been moved," said Sheriff White. He says it's a good thing nothing was touched because the explosives were sensitive to vibrations and even heat.

Because the explosives are considered experimental, investigators aren't quite sure what kind of damage they can do.

New Mexico State Police dressed in protective gear, manually disarmed the explosives, because their robot couldn't get through the two feet of snow. The FBI, ATF, and National Guard were also helping.

Neighbors say they didn't know O'Keefe.

According to the Sheriff, O'Keefe's family says he was a former Sandia National Labs scientist who specialized in high explosives. He also used to make explosions for the movies. He retired in the 80s and his family claims O'keefe held on to his passion until he passed away.

What remained of his hobby caused a lockdown on Highway 41. Neighbors were told to evacuate.

Sheriff White says there has never been a run-in with O'Keefe and there is no evidence that he ever detonated his experiments on the property or anywhere in the area.

The Sheriff says Highway 41 could be closed until monday as they eliminate the remaining explosives.