GARY | Carbon monoxide poisoning may have killed three people found dead in their Glen Park home Monday morning.
Police found Reginald Jones Jr., 62, his wife, Jean Ann, 57, and their 16-year-old grandson Larnell Jones Jr., dead in their home in the 100 block of East 49th Avenue, according to the Lake County coroner's office.
The neighborhood had been without power from Wednesday night to Saturday morning, and the Joneses had a generator in a garage, attached to the home's lower level.
Virgie Brown, Jean Ann's goddaughter, last spoke to the Joneses on Thursday, when Reginald told her he was going to start the generator. Brown said she knew something was wrong when calls to the family went unanswered all weekend.
"It was just an eerie feeling I had," Brown said. "I talk to her every day."
Brown called police about 8:30 a.m. Monday and asked an officer to check on the family. When police received no answer, Brown said she thought the Joneses may have gone to Milwaukee to visit their son earlier than they had planned.
Still worried, she called the fire department less than an hour later and asked for another check on the family.
When authorities broke into the home, they found Reginald in the bathroom, and Jean Ann and Larnell in bedrooms, Gary Police Cmdr. Samuel Roberts said.
All were pronounced dead in the home. Police said they found no signs of forced entry nor trauma to the bodies. After talking to Brown and finding the generator, out of gas, in the garage, police believe the victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning, Roberts said.
Karen Smith, who lived next to the couple for five years, said she often saw Reginald and Jean Ann in the morning, before they went to work, and in the evening, when they returned. She said they were always pleasant.
"Nice people, very nice people," she said.
Like Brown, the last time Smith saw them was Thursday.
Smith and other neighbors said power outages are nothing out of the ordinary in their Glen Park neighborhood, and the hum of generators during a power outage is common.
Smith said the couple's grandson had been living with them for at least the past year. Brown said she had just started to teach him how to drive.
Autopsies are scheduled for today, a coroner's office spokesperson said. If no signs or trauma or obvious causes of death are found, it will take a week to 10 days for toxicology results to determine if carbon monoxide caused the deaths.
BREAKOUTS:
Steps to reduce exposure to carbon monoxide in the summer months
* Keep gas appliances properly adjusted
* Do not idle the car inside the garage
* Don't use any gasoline-powered engines in enclosed spaces.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning
At moderate levels, people can get severe headaches, become dizzy, mentally confused, nauseated or faint. Persistent exposure to even moderate levels can lead to death. Low levels can cause shortness of breath, mild nausea and mild headaches and may have longer term effects. Since many of these symptoms are similar to those of the flu, food poisoning or other illnesses, people often do not associate their condition to CO poisoning.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
