The district attorney in Aspen will seek to ask a grand jury whether laws were broken in the deaths of a Denver family killed by carbon monoxide on a vacation trip.
“Our purpose is to ask the grand jury what, if any, crimes have been committed,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Arnold Mordkin. That will require first asking a judge to empanel a grand jury for the investigation.
Parker Lofgren, 39; Caroline Lofgren, 42; and their children, Owen, 10, and Sophie, 8, were found dead Nov. 28. The family had won a weekend at a vacation home in a fundraiser.
“It’s our primary goal and central purpose to see that this tragic event never again happens to any other family,” according to a family statement read by Fred Feuerbach, Caroline Lofgren’s older brother.
“We appreciate the efforts of District Attorney (Martin) Beeson to conduct a full and diligent investigation…”
A disconnected PVC pipe was the source of carbon-monoxide gas that killed the Lofgrens, authorities say.
An elbow in the exhaust pipe, which should have been connected to a gas-fired water boiler, was disconnected, investigator Brad Gibson of the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office has said.
The pipe leaked carbon-monoxide gas into the utility room where the boiler was located, and from there, it spread throughout the home.
The boiler may have been improperly installed when the home was built more than three years ago or it may have been accidentally dislodged, Gibson said. He said officials are not releasing information about whether the home has a carbon-monoxide detector or who did the installation work.
Gov. Bill Ritter last week signed House Bill 1091, which becomes law July 1, requiring that all new or sold residential properties have carbon-monoxide alarms on each floor of the property. Rental properties also would be required to add the alarms when tenants change.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
