The Associated Press
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Copyright 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — The seven people found dead over the weekend inside a duplex in this northeast Missouri town suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, and investigators are focusing on a van found in the garage, police said Tuesday.
Preliminary autopsy results showed the five adults and two children all had high levels of carbon monoxide in their tissue and blood, Adair County Coroner Brian Noe said. But Noe and Police Chief Jim Hughes stopped short of ruling that as the cause of death.
“It does not appear to be any trauma - no injuries, no signs of struggle, anything like that were found,” Noe said.
Additional toxicology tests won’t be completed for four to six weeks, Noe said. Those test results will help determine if other factors contributed to the deaths.
As a result, Hughes said he wasn’t yet willing to say if the deaths were accidental.
“We haven’t made a determination one way or another, nor do I expect we will for a while,” Hughes said.
“Anytime you have seven people in that type of circumstance you look at every avenue,” Noe said.
Also Tuesday, police identified the victims: The tenant of the apartment, 23-year-old Maranda McDermott; her son Adam McDermott Jr., who turned 1 Thursday, and daughter Melina McDermott, who would have been 2 on Dec. 30; Phillip Scruggs, 21; Rachel Findling, 21; Reginald Washington, 21; and Jeremy Liner, 19. All seven lived in Kirksville. None were students at Truman State University, just a few blocks from the home.
The bodies were discovered Sunday afternoon by 15-year-old Heather Glaspie and two of her friends. Glaspie was the baby sitter for the two children and became worried when she couldn’t reach their mother.
A woman living in the building’s other apartment was evaluated at a hospital but was OK.
The children had a 4-year-old sister who wasn’t home at the time, and who is now under the care of her grandparents, Lisa Lewis and her husband, Grayling Ramsey.
Carbon monoxide can kill silently, its victims simply going to sleep and never waking up.
When fire officials arrived at the scene Sunday, a sensor indicated a high level of carbon monoxide. Glaspie also said there was a strong odor when she walked into the house.
Fire Chief Randy Behrens said Tuesday the home did not have carbon monoxide detectors. He said a smoke detector was beeping, but he did not know if high levels of carbon monoxide could have set it off.
Forensic testing of a van parked in the garage continues. Hughes said officials weren’t certain if the van had been running. “We expect to find in the next week to 10 days whether the van ... was on or off,” he said.
Kirksville, a town of 17,000 residents, is about 30 miles south of the Iowa border and 165 miles northwest of St. Louis.