FOX 25 Anchor Maria Stephanos Describes Boston Marathon Explosion as ‘Very Chaotic’

Fox25 anchor Maria Stephanos and her children were at the finish line of the 117^th Boston Marathon Monday afternoon congratulating her husband, Dale for completing the 26.2-mile course when two explosions occurred roughly 20 seconds apart from each other.

“People were just coming through the finish line and were walking through the corral and about to take the blankets and then all of a sudden you hear this ‘Boom’ and you turn around and you saw this explosion coming out of a building,” Stephanos, told Fox25 shortly after news of the incident broke.

Stephanos described the scene to Fox25 as “very chaotic” and “nothing like you had ever seen.”

“My heart just breaks for anybody who’s hurt,” Stephanos told Fox25. “This is just devastating.”

Stephanos told the network she had just watched her husband cross the finish line at the four-hour mark of the marathon when she heard the first explosion.

“I was right there,” Stephanos said. “I turned around and you saw the plume of smoke in the middle of the building [reported as Marathon Sports]. It forced you to jerk your head and turn around.”

Stephanos recalled during a phone interview with the station that the explosion appeared to have occurred halfway up the Marathon Sports building and not on the ground floor.

“It looked like the explosion happened halfway up a building,” Stephanos said. “It didn’t look like it happened on the ground floor. … the building is still standing.”

From there, Stephanos said, people who could not walk after running the marathon “found a way to walk as fast as possible” away form the scene, which had instantly become chaotic.

“ It was packed,” Stephanos said of the scene just before the explosion. “There were a lot of people coming through the finish line at that moment. There were 10-people deep on the sidelines waiting for their loved ones to come in. You have all of those people who were right there … you could just see panic setting in with the people around you.”

Stephanos said she witnessed runners on their phones crying as people were waiting for other runners to come into Copley Square.

“It was very chaotic,” she said. … “People were joyous and feeling accomplished and then boom it just turned and it was panic instantly.”

For the latest information regarding the Boston Marathon explosions, click here.

There were many runners from Dedham participating in Monday’s marathon. Thus far Dedham Patch has confirmed John Hadcock is safe. We are trying to confirm the condition of the other 10 runners and are asking for your help. If you have heard from one of the following runners, please contact Foxborough Patch Local Editor Tamara Starr at Tamara.Starr@patch.com or (617) 515-1816.

Dedham Runners

Name Age Town Bib Number Wave/Corral Tracy Abber 44 Dedham 24023 3/9 Daniela Bitto 29 Dedham 14021 2/6 Nina Cammarata 40 Dedham 25503 3/9 Katie R. Casey 41 Dedham 23490 3/6 Rafael Castro 46 Dedham 24769 3/9
Doris Catlin 39 Dedham 25413 3/9
Britt Cavaletto 40 Dedham 21524 3/4 Janet K. Chambers 40 Dedham 17767 2/9 Jennifer L. Crisp 25 Dedham 24635 3/9
Samantha R. Cummings 27 Dedham 21909 3/4
Charlotte K. Dennis 25 Dedham 22483 3/5
Stacey A. Devine 36 Dedham 25470 3/9
Dick Doran 63 Dedham 22394 3/5
Timothy J. Ewart 48 Dedham 23415 3/6
Daniel E. Finkel 36 Dedham 23584 3/6
Thomas J. Fitzgerald 23 Dedham
22029 3/5
Kevin G. Fitzgibbon 57 Dedham 25952 3/9
Derek Fournier 39 Dedham
25820 3/9
John Hadcock 54 Dedham 7304 1/8 Marsha E. Holland 29 Dedham 23954 3/6 Tanya M. Holton 45 Dedham 24703 3/9
Katie E. Kelley 24 Dedham 22849 3/5 Cheryl L. Kerr 39 Dedham 21751 3/4 Michael J. McHugh 41 Dedham 25047 3/9
Heather McLoughlin 42 Dedham 24260 3/9 Cheryl A. Molloy 42 Dedham 25056 3/9 Kathleen M. O'Neil 37 Dedham 24474 3/9 Domenico Petrino 53 Dedham 11007 2/3 Richard H. Sherman 42 Dedham 22954 3/5 Elizabeth M. Vasallo 45 Dedham 24768 3/9