Minnesota family of 7 died from carbon monoxide poisoning: authorities

Relatives of the family discovered the victims Saturday night in a home in south Moorhead when they went to check on them after not hearing from them.

Seven members of an immigrant family from Honduras whose bodies were found inside a Minnesota home last weekend died of carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said Wednesday.

Relatives of the family discovered the victims Saturday night in a home in south Moorhead when they went to check on them after not hearing from them. Neighbours said the children were last seen Friday.

Officials with the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office in St. Paul examined blood samples to determine cause of death. Those tests showed a lethal level of carbon monoxide, authorities said.

Police Chief Shannon Monroe said the carbon monoxide came from either the home’s furnace or a Kia van in the garage. He said further tests were being done to determine whether the victims had hydrogen cyanide in their blood, which would point to the van, and those tests might take up to eight weeks.

Investigators found that a carbon monoxide detector in the garage had been removed and replaced with a smoke-only detector. Monroe said the van had a half-tank of gas and a dead battery. The chief said that in cases of intentional carbon monoxide exposure, vehicles are usually found with empty gas tanks.

“There’s no indication of any kind of criminal activity,” Monroe said. “Unless we find something else yet later in the investigation, right now it’s pointing toward some type of accidental situation.”

The family members were identified earlier as Belin Hernandez, 37; Marleny Pinto, 34; Eldor Hernandez Castillo, 32; Mariela Guzman Pinto, 19; Breylin Hernandez, 16; Mike Hernandez, seven, and Marbely Hernandez, five. They all lived together in the home, police said.