An elderly couple was found dead in their Spartanburg, South Carolina home, with their heater reaching an alarming 1,000°F (537°C).
Responding officers and medics discovered the lifeless couple during a welfare check, with the house reported as ‘extremely hot’.
Medics entered through the window on Saturday evening and unlocked the front door. The man was found lying unclothed on the bed, while the clothed woman was sprawled on a nearby chair. A firefighter described the heater as so hot that it appeared the basement was on fire, measuring temperatures over 1,000 degrees.
Assistant Fire Chief Brad Hall mentioned temperatures reaching 800 to 1,000 degrees. A responding officer noted a home temperature reading of 96 degrees after it was exposed to cold weather for two-and-a-half hours.
The victims, Glennwood Fowler, 82, and Joan Littlejohn, 84, had health issues, but no signs of foul play were found. The family informed the police that the heater and hot water were out, expressing concerns about the cold. They attempted to fix the water heater by fiddling with the wire until the pilot light turned on, after which they left.
Worries arose when the family didn’t hear from the elderly couple for several days. The man had recently fallen, and the woman was recovering from hip surgery.
Although no carbon monoxide poisoning signs were evident, tests will be conducted. Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger expressed the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning and hoped for an evaluation to identify issues with the heater.
Their deaths come about a week after a couple and their teenage daughter were discovered dead in a $5 million mansion in Dover, Massachusetts. Over a year ago, a hoarding couple was found dead in Yorktown Heights, New York, alongside 150 starving cats.
