Eastlake, OH – The Beacon Journal – A man and a woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a house where a dead squirrel was found in the chimney, preventing the odorless gas from escaping, authorities said.
The bodies of Dolores Brajdic, 70, and Ronald Jones, 74, were found by a relative on Saturday at Brajdic’s home in this Cleveland suburb.
They had gone to Florida in September to spend the winter and returned for a wedding, police Lt. Bill Gutowski said.
Firefighters found a dead squirrel stuck in the chimney and the thermostat was set to 52 degrees, which could have caused the furnace to start, filling the house with the gas before they arrived, Gutowski said.
There were no carbon monoxide detectors in the house, police said.