Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Couple Who Died from CO Poisoning Took Batteries Out of Detector, FDNY Says

By Dartunorro Clark | April 19, 2017 2:41pm | Updated on April 20, 2017 2:02pm
 Doris Crawford, 71, and John Crawford, 80, were found dead inside their home at 1952 First Ave. Sunday, police said.
Doris Crawford, 71, and John Crawford, 80, were found dead inside their home at 1952 First Ave. Sunday, police said.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Dartunorro Clark

EAST HARLEM — The elderly couple who died from carbon monoxide poisoning removed the batteries from their CO detector when the alarm started going off, not realizing their apartment was filling with deadly gas, the FDNY said.

Doris Crawford, 71, and John Crawford, 80, were found dead inside their home at 1952 First Ave. Sunday morning from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning after their daughter and her husband came to pick them up for Easter Sunday church services, authorities and reports said.

Investigators believe the couple's carbon monoxide detector had going off inside the home and that one of the tenants removed its batteries, unaware the home had been filling with the noxious gas, FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer said. 

"Unfortunately, they didn't know," he said, adding that the detector was found on a table inside the apartment.

Officials said Monday that the couple's stove was turned on when their family arrived at the apartment around 9 a.m. Sunday. 

FDNY investigators are looking into whether the stove was defective, officials said.

"The CO came from the stove," Dwyer said. "The stove is either defective or was inadvertently left on."

The investigation is ongoing, he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the FDNY had determined the stove was defective. That status is under investigation.