Coroner says Russell and Kaila LaTulippe apparently died of carbon monoxide poisoning

By Heath Druzin
Idaho Statesman
Copyright 2007 The Idaho Statesman

BOISE — Russell LaTulippe and his 16-year-old daughter, Kaila, loved to spend time snowmobiling and four-wheeling near their remote family cabin in the Owyhee Mountains. The two bonded in the solitude of the Owyhee backcountry.

On Monday, a search and rescue team found their bodies in the cabin in the rugged mountains. They were victims of carbon monoxide poisoning, Owyhee County Coroner Harvey Grimme said.

The LaTulippes, both of Boise, headed out in their pickup on a snowmobiling trip to their cabin Saturday, and their family reported them missing Monday morning, Owyhee County Sheriff Gary Aman said. Aman said he and four other officers, along with two family friends, searched the Silver City and War Eagle Mountain areas.

Deputies found the pickup at the edge of Silver City Road and searched the various snowmobile tracks in the area, concerned the LaTulippes might have been caught in an avalanche after warm temperatures destabilized the snowpack in the area.

The team found the LaTulippes in their cabin mid-morning. Aman said the oven was on with its door open, and two propane heaters and a propane lantern were on as well. But there was no ventilation in the 200-square-foot building. It was 100 degrees in the cabin when officers arrived. Russell and Kaila LaTulippe were on the floor, and it appeared they had made some attempt to get out of the cabin.

Aman said he has a 16-year-old daughter with the same name, which made the discovery tough to deal with.

"It just hit a little closer to home," he said.

Russell LaTulippe, 45, had worked since 1989 at the Idaho State Correctional Institution south of Boise and had just been promoted to investigator, Department of Correction spokeswoman Teresa Jones said. Jones said LaTulippe was dedicated and well-respected by his co-workers.

LaTulippe was a single dad for several years, raising Kaila and her 14-year-old sister before remarrying two years ago, family friend K.C. Baker said. He was a deeply religious family man who also looked after four stepchildren.

LaTulippe had been slowly building the cabin for the past six or seven years, and it was his "pride and joy," Baker said. He built the cabin largely out of salvaged wood in the mountains east of Silver City.

"He's kind of a modern-day homesteader," Baker said.

Kaila LaTulippe was a junior at Borah High School who loved the outdoors and took up many political causes, most recently the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, Baker said. Baker said Kaila was an honor student and a former class president who was not afraid to speak her mind.

"Kaila was the oldest 16-year-old you've ever met," he said.

Borah has had its share of tragedy this year. Junior Ethan Windom was arrested in January, suspected of murdering his mother. Junior Amanda Sue Mespelt has been missing for three weeks. She disappeared after school. Her family fears she may have left with a man she met over the Internet.

Principal Greg Frederick said news of Monday's discovery came after school let out. He said counselors would be available today for students and teachers.

"When you put it all together it's obviously been a rough year," he said.