Billings, MT – A mother and a daughter who were discovered dead in their home at 1233 Cook Ave. on Wednesday appear to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
The bodies of Jessica Hicks, 33, and Alexis Nicholson, 14, were discovered Wednesday after Billings police officers entered the home. Nicholson had not shown up at Lewis and Clark Middle School and Hicks had not shown up for work.
The cause of their deaths is suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, because the family dog also was dead, said Assistant Yellowstone County Coroner Chad Fehr.
A definitive conclusion will be made after toxicology results return from the crime lab.
“Anytime you have something like that, the indications are it was some sort of gas,” Fehr said.
When officers entered the house, carbon monoxide levels were extremely high, said Billings Police Detective Capt. John Bedford.
“The parts per million were way off the charts,” he said.
After an investigation, officials said they believe the source of the carbon monoxide was a hot water heater, which had been improperly installed two years ago.
“It looks like they had some bad duct work,” he said. “They misvented the thing, or failed to vent it properly.”
The unit, which heated water on demand, automatically turned on when the mother ran water for a shower. She was discovered dead in the bathroom. The daughter had collapsed at the top of the stairs from the basement.
The exhaust pipe, which should have taken vapors away from the house, was vented into the crawl space, allowing carbon monoxide gas to settle underneath the house.
“These things are always to be vented to the outside,” he said.
Why the exhaust proved lethal two years later is unclear, Bedford said.
Counselors were on hand at Lewis and Clark Middle School on Thursday, said Brenda Koch, the K-12 executive director at Billings School District 2.
“Our No. 1 priority is student and staff safety, that they’re OK emotionally, physically,” Koch said.
“Sometimes students may not know the individual and they’ve had a trauma recently and that triggers emotional reactions,” Koch said. “We provide services for them as well.” Koch urged parents who notice a change in their child to call the student’s counselor or a school administrator.
In times of crisis, Billings schools can depend on their crisis team, she said. “These are very highly trained individuals,” she said. “They do a great job.”