Two women were found dead in a northern California motel room just days apart, and authorities are now pointing the finger at a silent killer: carbon monoxide.
Officers with the Eureka Police Department and firefighters from Humboldt Bay Fire first responded to calls from the Lamplighter Inn on the 4000 block of Broadway on Feb. 21 around 2 p.m., where they discovered a 37-year-old woman dead and suspected it was a possible overdose. Another was found unconscious, and was rushed to a local hospital.
The eerie scene repeated itself just five days later. On Feb. 26, first responders were called back to the same room in the motel after another report of two people unconscious — again, due to a suspected overdose. Inside, they found a 36-year-old female dead, and another in critical condition who was transported by ambulance to a hospital, police said.
After the surviving patient was taken away, firefighters at the scene began showing symptoms consistent with mild carbon monoxide exposure, officials said. Fire crews tested the air inside the room using a gas monitor and detected elevated levels of the poisonous gas.
Even more troubling, there were no carbon monoxide detectors inside the room, authorities said.
Fire officials, detectives and evidence technicians with the Eureka Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit, and crews from Pacific Gas and Electric Company all rushed to the motel.
All guests were evacuated while the building was being ventilated.
City officials quickly stepped in, calling the property owner to the scene and bringing in code enforcement and building inspectors. After reviewing conditions, it was determined that the motel could not remain open until each room undergoes mechanical inspections and fire code violations are fixed.
The city then issued the owner a “First and Final Notice,” ordering the motel shut down immediately until the problems are corrected and reinspected.
While the identities of the victims are being withheld, the double-death has sparked a firestorm of questions regarding the motel’s maintenance. Carbon monoxide — often dubbed the “invisible killer” —can leak from a faulty heater, water heaters, or poorly ventilated appliances.
Authorities have not yet said whether carbon monoxide exposure played a role in the two deaths, but a spokesperson with the Eureka police told a local outlet that there “was no evidence at the scene indicating an overdose.”
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