Manheim Township, PA- A Manheim Township woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning after she apparently forgot to shut off her car last week, a coroner said Monday.
Beverly Thompson, 66, returned to her home in the 1100 block of Crest Lane and parked her car in her attached garage sometime during the night of Sept. 24, Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said.
Thompson did not shut off the car, and the exhaust from it went into the home.
“She may have forgotten to turn off the automobile,” Diamantoni said. “Her car was in the garage, and the key was in the on position.”
The gas tank eventually emptied and the smell of exhaust permeated the home, he said.
Neighbors found Thompson dead on the floor of her kitchen Wednesday morning.
No suicide note was found, and there wasn’t anything to suggest she had been depressed, Diamantoni said.
An autopsy was performed, and the coroner ruled Thompson died accidentally of carbon monoxide toxicity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states on its website that “carbon monoxide (is) an odorless, colorless gas, which can cause sudden illness and death (and) is produced any time a fossil fuel is burned.”