Three U.S. Marines who were found in a car at a North Carolina gas station died from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to law enforcement.
The three lance corporals, identified by the U.S. Marine Corps as Tanner J. Kaltenberg, 19, of Madison, Wisconsin, Merax C. Dockery, 23, of Pottawatomie, Oklahoma, and Ivan R. Garcia, 23, of Naples, Florida, were stationed at Camp Lejeune.
The three men were found Sunday in a Lexus sedan parked outside a Speedway gas station in Hampstead, North Carolina, after a missing person’s report was filed by Dockery’s mother, Heather Glass.
Three Marines found dead in car at convenience store parking lot
Hampstead is located about 30 miles from Camp Lejeune, The Associated Press reported.
Autopsies performed Wednesday determined that the men died from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Pender County Sheriff’s Office.
Sgt. Chester Ward of the Pender County Sheriff’s Office told the AP Wednesday that the situation “seems accidental.” Investigators “have found nothing else that shows that it’s something else,” such as suicide.
Glass said she filed the missing person’s report after her son failed to make a flight to Oklahoma where he was supposed to come for his grandfather’s funeral.
“I was just worried that it was something worse,” Glass told the AP in an interview. “I’m at peace. I feel at peace because I know he was asleep when he passed,” Glass added. “He was just a kind soul. He was liked by everybody. He was a real good kid.”
