Minnesota – the bodies of seven people found in a house last weekend have been cleared from any misconduct and the authorities have declared that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.
All seven members belonged to an immigrant family hailing from Honduras.
All the victims’ bodies were discovered on Saturday night by their relatives in their home located at South Moorhead on the suspicions of not hearing from them.
According to the neighbors they had last seen the children of the family on Friday.
The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office at Saint Paul stated that the blood samples were examined to determine the cause of death.
According to the authorities, the blood tests showcased a lethal level of carbon monoxide in all the victims.
Police chief Shannon Monroe stated the carbon monoxide came from either the home’s furnace or a Kia van in the garage. He said “further tests were being done to determine whether the victims had hydrogen cyanide in their blood, which would point to the van, and those tests might take up to eight weeks.”
The investigators stated that a carbon monoxide detector in the garage had been removed and replaced with a smoke-only detector. The van had a half-tank of gas and a dead battery. The chief said that in cases of intentional carbon monoxide exposure, vehicles are usually found with empty gas tanks.
“There’s no indication of any kind of criminal activity,” Monroe said. “Unless we find something else yet later in the investigation, right now it’s pointing toward some type of accidental situation.”
The members of the family were identified as Belin Hernandez, 37; Marleny Pinto, 34; Eldor Hernandez Castillo, 32; Mariela Guzman Pinto, 19; Breylin Hernandez, 16; Mike Hernandez, seven, and Marbely Hernandez, five.
“It would appear to us possibly that the parents were still awake when this happened,” Monroe said. “They love this community,” Monroe said of the surviving family members. “They are very pleased with the outpouring of support they’ve seen so far. Just know that these are terrific members of our community and this is a huge and tragic loss during a holiday season.”
