3 Deaths in same hotel room

Posted in Accident & Injury on June 11, 2013

A string of mysterious hotel room deaths has been solved. “Officials say they discovered carbon monoxide in a North Carolina hotel room where an 11-year-old boy died Saturday, nearly two months after an elderly couple was found dead in the same room,” CBS affiliate WBTV reports.

Jeffery Williams of South Carolina was found dead inside a hotel room along with his mother, Jeannie Williams, who was alive but unresponsive. She was taken to a nearby hospital. Back in April, the first two victims, Daryl and Shirley Jenkins, had been found dead in the same hotel room. The cause of their deaths had previously been unknown. According to WBTV, family members were told that the couple died of a “cardiac condition” but toxicology reports were not back yet. Both incidents took place in Room 225 at the Best Western Plus Blue Ridge Plaza in Boone, North Carolina.

Unlike smoke detectors, hotels are generally not required to provide carbon monoxide alarms. However, that may change; the International Building Codes now requires the alarms to be installed in certain buildings.  States are frequently slow to adopt IBC standards – and exceptions may apply – so be sure to ask if your hotel is equipped with a CO detector. If not, you may want to consider bringing your own portable device the next time you stay in a hotel.