A woman returned to her house in upstate New York Monday to discover she didn't have a house anymore, because her husband had razed it with a bulldozer while she was gone, with all her possessions still inside.

Diane Andryshak didn't have any explanation when WABC interviewed her. Her husband of 9 years, James Rhein, was already in jail when she got home, charged with criminal mischief for renting an excavator and demolishing the house without a permit. He's since been released on $300 bail.

"We were not fighting, we were not arguing," said Andryshak, who's staying with friends after her husband spontaneously left her homeless.

Rhein told investigators he and Andryshak had been renovating their Middletown, N.Y. home together, but he decided it was beyond repair, so he just tore it down instead. Police said Andryshak was the legal owner of the house.

"I asked him, just kidding around, if he was going to knock down the house with a bulldozer, and he said, 'Yeah,'" a neighbor told WABC. Rhein was apparently not just kidding around, though.

"I took it down, that's it," Rhein told WNBC. He claimed the foundation of the building was falling apart and it wasn't worth saving. He wanted to get a demolition permit, but couldn't do it on MLK Day. So instead of waiting, he just rented heavy machinery from a construction company and took the house down himself. As you do.

He tried to call his wife, he says, but she didn't answer.

He claims he's now talked to Andryshak and she's no longer mad at him, and everything left in the house when he smashed it was replaceable.

"I'm a good husband. What can I tell you?"

[Photo: WABC]