Muskingum County, OH – An autopsy has revealed that two people found dead in Muskingum County on Tuesday were victims of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said today that an autopsy, performed on the male victim identified today as Thomas A. Cash, 64, of Zanesville, showed elevated traces of carbon monoxide in his lungs and organs.
The bodies of Cash and Carolyn Eileen-Cody Porter, 77, were found on the bedroom floor of Porter’s home at 5180 West Rd. near Adamsville at about 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The temperature inside the home at the time was about 38 degrees, said Lutz, and the blower fan on a wood-burning stove was still in operation. Lutz said it’s possible that a stove pipe was not vented properly.
Dr. Jeffrey Lee, Licking County’s deputy coroner, performed autopsies on both Porter and Cash yesterday. Preliminary results showed that both victims were suffering from severe pneumonia.
The doctor said Mr. Cash’s case was the most severe he had seen in a very long time, and Mrs. Porter’s was almost as bad, said Lutz. The doctor made the point that anyone with pneumonia would be more susceptible to carbon monoxide.
Lutz said his office was alerted to the scene about 11 a.m. Tuesday by a caller from Texas who had become concerned after being unable to reach Porter and sending one of the woman’s neighbors to check on her home.
Cash maintained a residence at 1663 Linden Ave. in Zanesville, but Lutz said there was evidence that he had been staying more frequently over the past two weeks at Porter’s house near Adamsville, a village of about 160 approximately 10 miles northeast of Zanesville.