'Mystery bolt' comes crashing through Raleigh family's roof

RALEIGH, NC -- The FAA spent Wednesday trying to figure out why a Raleigh family was on the receiving end of a surprise from the sky. The industrial-sized, broken-off end of a bolt with a nut attached crashed through their roof and they suspected it fell off a plane.

You can call it "The Mystery on White Kestrel Drive," the quiet northeast Raleigh subdivision where the Weber family lives.

The Weber family's bizarre Tuesday afternoon began with a boom.

"We heard a loud crash," said Sarabeth Weber, who was home at the time caring for her 3-year old daughter, Reagan. "It almost sounded like a dresser falling over."

When Weber went to investigate the source of the loud noise, she discovered it wasn't from the dresser.

"This is where the bolt was lodged in the ceiling," Weber said, as she pointed to the hole now punched in her ceiling.

The nut and bolt fell with so much speed and force that it spiraled all the way down into the master bedroom.

Had it happened at a different time of day, Reagan may have sleeping on the mattress she likes to use by her mom and dad's bed.

"It could've been a much different scenario than what happened," Weber sad.

No one was hurt, but the mystery surrounding the object remained. What was this thing? How did it end up crashing through the roof?

"When we found it - something this big coming from the air, first thought is that it was definitely an airplane," Weber explained.

A stray aircraft part seemed like a possibility. The Webers live in the flight path of the Raleigh Executive Airport and RDU.

ABC11 checked the radar from Tuesday at the time of the incident. There was a flight near the Weber's home.

"My neighbors were actually sitting outside and said they saw a huge airplane and they were talking about how it was different than most of them," Weber said.

The FAA sent an investigator from Greensboro to take a look. In his expert opinion, the bolt did not come from a plane. It's a helpful answer, but it doesn't solve the mystery.

Weber said there's good reason to be thankful.

"I'm just glad that everybody's safe and it's just a hole in the roof," she said. "This is something that can be fixed, but looking back, I'm just glad no one was actually hurt by this."

The Webers are in touch with a contractor to get the roof fixed. And they're left to speculate on where the bolt came from.

The subdivision is still under construction. The family is now wondering whether the bolt could have snapped from a piece of equipment and come careening into their house.