...If anyone has any thoughts as to how it happened I would appreciate the insight. ...
hard to tell from the first pic, but are the connecting rod cap bolts even in the connecting rod? its hard to tell, but looks like the bolts are AWOL? if the cap or one of the bolts went, they should be broken off in the con-rod.
they must be there. because if they aren't, that means they backed out or stripped out. and that would be very strange... the only way to know for sure will be when you remove the pan and see what the cap looks like. w/out over-revving the next likely candidate is improper torque on the rod bolts. after that, fatigue / failure of a rod bolt. it looks unlikely that the cap failed; usually when it does it will fail in the center and break into pieces, leaving one or both sides of the cap still attached to the con-rod.
either way, looks like the crank grabbed the con-rod on the down stroke (after the cap decided to leave) and threw it into the side of the block.
this is reason #2 on my list of why a cummins will go in my truck.