3 US Marines found at North Carolina gas station died of carbon monoxide poisoning, officials say

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press/Report for America

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Three U.S. Marines found unresponsive in a car at a North Carolina gas station had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Deputies from the Pender County Sheriff’s Office found the three men Sunday morning in a privately owned car outside a Speedway gas station in Hampstead. Autopsies performed Wednesday by the North Carolina Office of Medical Examiner determined that all three deaths were the result of carbon monoxide poisoning. Sgt. Chester Ward from the sheriff’s office told The Associated Press Wednesday that the situation “seems accidental.” The lance corporals were identified as Tanner J. Kaltenberg, 19, Merax C. Dockery, 23, and Ivan R. Garcia, 23.