Such a Tragedy

This could have been avoided. Sadly we hear about this type of thing every year during the coldest months.


Carbon monoxide suspected in death of four
Share | .StoryDiscussionCarbon monoxide suspected in death of four
BY DENISE HOLLINSHED • dhollinshed@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8319 and KIM BELL • kbell@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8115 www.STLtoday.com | No Comments Posted | Posted: Saturday, December 11, 2010 12:00 am

Font Size:Default font sizeLarger font sizeShare ST. CLAIR • Four people found dead Thursday inside a home in St. Clair likely died of carbon monoxide poisoning, St. Clair Police Chief Bill Hammack said.

Angela S. Sohn, 29, her boyfriend, Ryan G. Yoder, 27, and his two children, Devin Yoder, 4, and Tessa Yoder, 3, were found Thursday afternoon in the home at 1585 North Commercial Avenue after friends went to check on the family, police said.

Investigators do not suspect foul play. None of the bodies had any visible signs of injury and there was no evidence of forced entry to the home, Hammack said.

Three of the bodies were found in a bedroom. The fourth was discovered on a couch. It was unclear exactly when they died, Hammack said.

The St. Louis County medical examiner was to conduct autopsies on the four victims Friday.

Ryan Yoder, an auto mechanic, had only moved into the rental home about two weeks ago, said Lauri Schroeder, a Yoder family friend who lives in St. Clair.

When Ryan Yoder failed to show up to work for several days, friends went by the home. They looked through the window and saw a body, then called police, who forced their way into the home.

"The only thing that needs to be said is: 'Use a detector,'" Schroeder said. "We're going to work to make an awareness campaign."

Schroeder said she would like Missouri to pass a law requiring that homes have carbon monoxide detectors.

Family members told police Sohn and Ryan Yoder were sick early in the week, complaining of nausea. Family members last saw them alive on Tuesday, according to Tiffany Rulo, an aunt of the two children.

"(Ryan Yoder's mother) thought it was food poisoning actually," Rulo said. "She took them over some Pepto-Bismol and ate dinner with them and then hadn't heard from them for two days."

St. Clair, in Franklin County, is about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis, near Interstate 44.

When police arrived, the pilot light on the gas furnace was out, and the temperature inside the home was only 54 degrees, said Hammack, the police chief.

Rulo said they had had trouble with the furnace and that Ryan Yoder had contacted the landlord about the problem and tried to repair it himself when it wasn't fixed. She said there was no carbon monoxide detector in the home.

Rulo said her sister, Amberly Jones, was mourning the loss of her children, Devin and Tessa,

"She thinks there should be a law that homeowners should have carbon monoxide detectors in their homes when they are using gas, and there wasn't," she said. "She is full of anger and hate right now."

Hammack said a big clue that the deaths were a result of carbon monoxide poisoning came to him shortly after he and two detectives got into the home.

"We started getting headaches while we were there," Hammack said. "I aired the place out, and we called the Fire Department to take readings."

But the Fire Department's test of the air didn't reveal a leak, possibly because police had already opened windows and aired out the home, he said.


http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_7aa2abfc-28ce-5da6-9910-37c76a788420.html