DENVER—The Pitkin County district attorney wants a grand jury to investigate the carbon monoxide-poisoning deaths of a family vacationing at a home near Aspen.
District Attorney Martin Beeson said Wednesday he filed a motion in District Court to assemble a grand jury. If it’s approved, a grand jury will investigate what, if any, crimes were committed in the Lofgren deaths.
Parker Lofgren, 39, his wife, Caroline, 42, and their two children, Owen, 10, and Sophie, 8, were discovered dead in the bedroom of a home outside Aspen the day after Thanksgiving. The family had won a weekend at the vacation home in a fundraiser.
Parker Lofgren was a founding partner of the Denver-based investment bank St. Charles Capital.
Investigators say a disconnected exhaust pipe in the home’s utility closet was leaking carbon-monoxide gas. The pipe should have been connected to a gas-fired water boiler, said investigator Brad Gibson of the Pitkin County sheriff’s office. The gas eventually spread throughout the house.
The boiler might have been improperly installed or the pipe could have disconnected accidentally, Gibson said.
Officials have declined to say whether the home had a carbon monoxide detector.
“I have my own perceptions as to what should be done with the case, but it’s not so clear a case as somebody walked up to somebody, put a gun to their head and pulled the trigger,” Beeson told KUSA-TV in Denver. “This is a heart-wrenching case, and I want an independent body to make the call on this one.”
Gov. Bill Ritter signed a bill last week requiring carbon monoxide detectors in all homes and apartment buildings offered for sale after July 1.
