Four people were found dead in a New Hampshire home on Christmas Day of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.
The four adults were found dead in the home in Wakefield around 4:20 p.m. after they did not show up to a holiday event and authorities were contacted to conduct a welfare check, the state fire marshal and police said in a news release.
The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office said the dead were identified as Matthew Goldstein, 52; Lyla Goldstein, 54; Valerie Goldstein, 22; and Violet Goldstein, 19. They were from Newton, Massachusetts.
"Efforts to determine the cause of the suspected carbon monoxide leak remain active and ongoing, and investigators are continuing to inspect the home’s gas heating system," the office said in an update Friday.
The state medical examiner's office has determined that Matthew Goldstein died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and the causes of death for the other three are pending, the fire marshal's office said.
More than 400 people die every year in the United States from carbon monoxide poisoning not linked to fires, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website.
The colorless and odorless gas can come from electricity generators, furnaces, exhaust from vehicles and other sources.
There were no working carbon monoxide alarms found in the Wakefield home where the four people were found dead Wednesday, the fire marshal's office said.
The devices can save lives. The devices should be installed "in a central location outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home" as well as in any other areas required by local laws, the National Fire Protection Association says.
Wakefield is a town of around 5,000 in the eastern part of New Hampshire, near the Maine border.
