Two 18-year-olds found unresponsive inside a parked car last month in west suburban St. Charles died of carbon monoxide poisoning, which police believe to be accidental.
Officers were called at 8:08 a.m. March 16 to a report of a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot in the first block of North 17th Street, according to St. Charles police.
A man and woman, both 18, were found in the back seat of a 2001 Toyota Camry, and were taken to Delnor Hospital in Geneva, where they were pronounced dead.
The Kane County coroner identified them as Kody R. Dietrich of the 1600 block of Indiana Street in St. Charles; and Adalina Elizabeth Donoso of the 200 block of Leudtke Avenue in Racine, Wisconsin.
Autopsies performed at the time were inconclusive, but toxicology results have since revealed both died of carbon monoxide intoxication, the coroner’s office announced Tuesday.
Investigators examined the Toyota on Tuesday and found the manifold was not connected to the exhaust tailpipe, a Tuesday statement from police said. The “do-it-yourself work performed on the car” caused the exhaust to empty directly into the engine compartment instead of the tailpipe.
It was determined through engine tests that the carbon monoxide levels were at 1,180 ppm, police said. Anything over 30 ppm is considered to hazardous.
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Police said the deaths appears to be nothing more than a “very tragic incident.”
