WINDSOR, Maine — Authorities say the three people found dead in a Jeep in a bog in Windsor over the weekend were apparently overcome by carbon monoxide fumes as the driver tried to accelerate out of the mire.
Officials have identified the victims as 41-year-old Reginald Gay, his wife, 33-year-old Samantha Gay, both of Windsor, and 22-year-old Luke Thompson of China.
The three went four-wheeling and were last seen around 7 p.m. Friday. When they didn’t return home, a relative went looking for them and found the vehicle Saturday evening about 300 yards from the road.
Authorities say it appears the vehicle got stuck and exhaust fumes entered the enclosed passenger compartment.
The state medical examiner’s office has ordered additional toxicology tests to confirm the cause of death.
Thats very sad , very tragic…My condolence to the families..
What a horrible way to die. My sympathies go out to their families.
This is so incredibly sad. I wonder if they fell asleep in the truck and accordingly didn’t realize they were being poisoned? My condolences to the family and friends of all of these folks.
the gas will put you to sleep :(
wouldnt u smell the fumes or get a head ache 1st and realize and shut the car off or open the window or something…maybe not i dont know, but way sad either way
Carbon monoxide is a colorless odorless gas. So no you wouldn’t smell it or see it :(
A few years ago, about 1 am on a cold, snowy, rural Maine highway, I came across two drunks, passed out in their pickup truck with the engine running. Don’t know how or why, and it almost seemed as if they had stopped to let someone out of the truck, who had walked to his cabin or camp, and then just passed out. THESE GUYS WERE OUT OF IT.
I called the Penobscot County Sheriff’s department, and opened the passenger door to see if these guys were still alive. The ten degree air temperature seemed to have a minor effect and partly revive them, but only to the point where they might twitch a limb. Then I waited about a half hour until help could arrive.
I kind of felt bad, because I knew they were going to get an OUI, what with the engine running and stuff, but I also felt that I had saved their lives. Turning off the engine and leaving them there meant they would have froze to death. They guys were pickled, their old pickup in the middle of the road, and I didn’t know what was going on (drugs, etc..), so I did the minimum needed to secure their safety, and hoped that they would WISE UP and live a few more years….LOL
As I saw the truck driving around town some months later, I assumed things had worked out well, summer had arrived, and they had survived their law enforcement, winter, carbon dioxide ordeal.
This story is so sad, because if these Jeep owners had only had their windows cranked open a couple of inches, they would have been fine. Drive and 4 wheel safely, friends!
This is a very strange one. It sounds like it happened within minutes. One minute you are spinning your tires, the next minute you are passed out. They say CO is odorless but I have never seen a vehicle with odorless exhaust. I get nauseous around vehicle exhaust in less than a minute. I sometimes have to turn my car off while I scrape the windows. This is just hard to understand. My sincerest condolences to the families involved in this tragedy.
CO affects your ability to reason. Most people never know they’re being poisoned, which is why CO monitors in every home that has any burning type appliance(s) is so important. So while you may smell the vehicle exhaust, at high concentrations you’re quickly beyond rationalizing the crack the windows or stop the motor. Also in this case, a bog likely is the low spot and CO is very close to neutrally buoyant, so it would just stay there given no wind to expel it.