‘It Was Too Late’: Outraged Louisville Woman Begged Officials to Look for Her Boyfriend After Plant Explosion But Was Told Everyone Was ‘Accounted For.’ Hours Later the Army Vet Was Found Dead 

One day after what would’ve been Kevens Dawson’s 50th birthday, family and friends of the Kentucky man whose body was found amid the rubble from the Nov. 13 Louisville plant explosion still want to know why it took nearly eight hours for officials to determine he had not made it out alive. Dawson was a U.S. Army veteran who learned the military’s lessons well. Show up on time, provide for your family, and, most importantly, leave no man behind, said his girlfriend, Malakia Watson, at a news conference Monday. “Why would you leave him behind?” Army vet Kevens Dawson killed in plant explosion. (Credit: WHAS Video Screengrab) Watson learned of the factory blast — which happened around 3 p.m. and injured 11 people and killed two, including Dawson — while picking up her son from school around 4 p.m. She rushed to the site, having arranged for other family members to care for her child. “I gotta go get my boyfriend. I gotta get him out of there,” she recalled thinking. The plant was leveled by the blast, caused, safety officials later determined, by a failure in a cooking vessel. Givaudan is a Swiss-owned company that makes caramel coloring for...