Michigan Couple Found Dead In RV At Tularosa Parking Lot
TULAROSA, N.M. (AP) – Carbon monoxide apparently caused the deaths of a Michigan couple whose bodies were found in their recreational vehicle in southern New Mexico.
Richard Pardington, 62, and his wife, Clare, 58, both of Brown City, were found Monday in their RV, which was at the Tularosa Basin Telephone Co. parking lot in Tularosa, police said. Their dog’s body also was in the RV, authorities said.
“They came into town Wednesday night and parked their RV in the parking lot,” said Detective Chris Rupp of the Tularosa Police Department. Carbon monoxide also was blamed for the deaths of two elk hunters whose bodies were found in their tent Friday in the nearby Sacramento Mountains.
The bodies of Danny Davis, 56, and Mark Jackson, 38, both of Tennessee Colony, Texas, were found by fellow hunters, said Capt. Norbert Sanchez of the Otero County Sheriff’s Department. Temperatures have dropped below freezing at night in the mountains, and the two men lit a small propane-fueled heater inside the tent.
The Pardington’s RV was discovered by company employees who returned to work Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday and contacted a salvage company to tow the vehicle, Rupp said. The hydraulic leveling jacks were deployed, and a locksmith was called to open the RV so the jacks could be raised and the RV towed.
“When (the locksmith) went in there, he didn’t see anybody, but saw the dog lying on its little bed. He noticed an odor. Then he noticed the woman, and police were contacted,” Rupp said. A preliminary investigation shows carbon monoxide caused their deaths, Rupp said.
The couple’s bodies have been sent to the state Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque for autopsies, he said. Police were trying to determine the source of the carbon monoxide. “The sad thing is they had a carbon monoxide tester in their vehicle. It just wasn’t hooked up properly,” Rupp said.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-11-30-05 1138EST
