As it turns out, Dr. Nicholas Bartha (right) — the Upper East Side doctor suspected of blowing up his 62nd Street townhouse in a suicide attempt yesterday — is more nutters than just your average Bush supporter. He was going through a divorce from his wife of 29 years, Cordula Hahn, ending a marriage in which he taunted his wife, a Jew born in Nazi-occupied Holland, by placing "swastika-adorned articles and notes around the house" (and you best believe that he was pissed when the bitch tried to remove his artwork). After the court awarded Hahn $4 million in judgments, Bartha was ordered to sell his 75% interest in his beloved townhouse. But the good doctor wasn't having any of that, and yesterday morning he sent a 14-page email to Hahn shortly before the building exploded. A sample from the suicide novel:

When you read these lines your life will change forever. You deserve it. You will be transformed from gold digger to ash and RUBBISH digger.

I will leave the house only if I am dead. You ridiculed me. You should have taken it seriously.

He sent the email to at least a dozen other people and organizations, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Fox News Channel. Because if you're hell-bent on destruction, you're obviously going to reach out to Rupert Murdoch and the Terminator.

Marriage, Home Go Up in Flames [NYDN]
House That Blew Up Was a Dream and Then a Nightmare [NYT]
Related: A Building Collapses in New York... Post Facto [midweekpost's Flickr]
Earlier: Gawker's Coverage of UES Wreckage

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