Possible carbon monoxide deaths in Montgomery County

10:45 AM CDT on Thursday, September 29, 2005

By Mike Zientek / 11 News

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Hurricane Rita forced many people in Montgomery County to seek alternative sources of power, but for one couple the choice was deadly.

The lights in the 19700 block of White Oak were out, so Dean Michael Kirk and his girlfriend Katherine Fore, used a generator to power a TV, a fan and a light in a room in the house in northeast Montgomery County.

KHOU-TV

Two people were found in this home, possibly dead from a generator's carbon monoxide output.

Kirk's employer called the Montgomery County sheriff after he failed to report to work for a few days and when deputies went to the house Wednesday, they found the two bodies in a room, dead possibly as a result of carbon monoxide produced by the generator.

Kirk's ex- wife says that Kirk, 44, had started a new life with Fore, 43 not long ago.

Investigators say the generator had no gas and the throttle was on the "run" setting.

Kirk's son came to the house and noted that the victims were on the other side of the home from the generator and that a window was open.

"I didn't know him real well, but I met him a couple of times and he seemed like a real nice fella. As far as what happened down there, I don't understand it," saida neighbor named Donnie.

Autopsies have been ordered on both victims.