Four people found dead in a North Little Rock house Sunday night died from carbon monoxide poisoning, North Little Rock police said Wednesday.
According to a news release from department spokeswoman Sgt. Amy Cooper, the state medical examiner's office conducted an autopsy on the three men and one woman, and informed detectives Wednesday of the causes of the deaths.
Police also released the identities of the victims Wednesday.
They are Brandi Russell, 36; Tracy Hampton, 51; Deon Lindsey, 47; and Christopher Cross, 47. Police did not disclose if the victims lived at the house where their bodies were found.
Officers were called to the house at 1011 Parker St. at 11:55 p.m. for a property check. They arrived to find a door open at the house. The officers initially saw an unresponsive man just inside the structure, reports said. Farther in the house, they found the other three bodies.
According to the news release, police found a stolen welder/generator in an unventilated storage room below the house's second-floor living space. Investigators believe exhaust from the running generator caused the carbon monoxide that led to the deaths, the release said.
The generator was reported stolen Sunday from a construction site in the 1300 block of Pike Avenue, a short distance from the Parker Street house, according to the release.
Officers also reported finding suspected drugs and drug paraphernalia in the house. Cooper said Monday that the department was looking at the deaths as possible overdoses. "Hopefully the autopsy will confirm something," she said at that time.
It is unclear whether drug use had any role in the deaths, Cooper said.
North Little Rock Fire Department Lt. Dustin Free said carbon monoxide can seep out of a relatively closed room through several areas.
"It is possible, if you've got any cracks in the walls, cracks in the ceiling, cracks in the floors," Free said. "A generator doesn't need to be inside a structure to begin with. It needs to be where it's well-ventilated."
Free suggested that anyone using a generator, gas stove or any gas-powered machinery get a carbon monoxide detector because only a small amount of the gas can be lethal.
Free said detectors can trigger an alarm at just 32 parts per million, illustrating that it doesn't take much of the gas to kill.
"Not much at all," he said.
The investigation into the deaths is ongoing, the news release said.
Metro on 02/20/2020