Deaf couple killed in New York

Miss-Delectable

Miss-Delectable

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By LARRY CELONA, TATIANA DELIGIANNAKIS and JOE McGURK

March 31, 2005 -- A hearing-impaired Queens couple — who may not have heard their carbon-monoxide detector go off — apparently were fatally gassed inside their home last night, police said.

The victims, Blair Mazin, 50 and his wife, Anita, 49, were found in their bedclothes by the woman's brother inside their townhouse on Oak Park Drive in Douglaston at 8 p.m.

Blair's body was in his bedroom, and Anita's in a bathroom.

They were both pronounced dead at the scene.

A car in their garage had an empty gas tank and the ignition key was in the "on" position.

Authorities believe the car had been left running and carbon-monoxide poisoning was the cause of death.

When paramedics first arrived, they were unable to detect any fumes, leading authorities to believe the two may have been dead for a while, perhaps since Tuesday.

There were no signs of trauma on either body.

Authorities believe that because of their hearing problem, the victims might not have heard the car running or the alarm sounding on a carbon-monoxide detector.

Cops said their initial investigation leads them to believe the deaths were accidental — no note was found, and friends and relatives said the couple did not seem to have any problems.

Their three-story town house is located in a gated community called Oak Park at Douglaston.

A member of the community's co-op board said the detectors had been installed in all homes there.

A law went into effect in November requiring all city residents to install carbon-monoxide alarms.

The deaths stunned residents of the well-to-do community near Alley Pond Park.

"I can't believe it," said one resident. It's very quiet here." Another neighbor said the victims, who had lived there three years, looked like "a very happy couple."
 
Wow, what a senseless tragedy :(

It certainly is an eyeopener for the deaf...never thought of carbon dioxide alarms. You only hear about fire alarms for the deaf.
 
That's sad. I know the risks of the alarms not going off and not able to hear it would put us in hot spots.

My condolences goes out to them and their family. :(
 
Yea, I know the problem! almost all carbon monoxide manufacturer refused to do anything about visual alert. They simply refused, I have contact many of the detector manufacturer, the response I got was... "We don't have any plan to add this to our line". Sure, there is limited sources where there is flasher, but unrealiable one, they depend on transmitters. I rather have build in flasher to ensure its realiablity. I do have Gentex smoke detector, and actually asked Gentex if they manufacturs the carbon monoxide. The answer is NO, and not planning to do so. If they had one, I can tie them up with my tandem smoke detectors.

Politicans don't give DAMN about this!

BTW, almost happened to me, and my family. Glad I caught it in time!
Im still pissed off at these lazy manufacturers and politicans. Sure, in NYS, they require to have carbon detector installed on EVERY DAMN house sold, and that the flasher isn't require even the buyer's is deaf!
 
:( senseless indeed Meg!

my condolences goes out to the family of the victims!

DHB -- i too agree that the carbon monoxide detectors should be equipped with strobe lights -- several years ago when i was living at mom's old house (now has since been sold) the CM detector went off and i never knew and mom ofc was roused from her sleep and i was still up at the time and she told me what was going on and after getting it reset it went off again anyway so she called the MCFD to come and turned out the house was filled with CM and it was in the dead of winter so we had to open the doors, windows to let the house air out -- later after she called in some ppl and was found to have come from the fireplace cuz it was a gas fireplace i was using at the time :shock:

weird thing was the MCFD asked mom and i if we were having headaches or such symptoms and we both said no :dunno:

Carbon Monixide is *deadly* cuz theres no smell or anything -- a known "silent killer" *shivers*
 
This is indeed a sad tragedy--although, I find this a bit odd--when authorities found the car had run out of gas with the key in the 'on' position of the ignition--makes me wonder if they were set up or perhaps one of them was sucidical OR even the remote possibility that one of them was absent-minded and forgot to turn the car off.... :dunno:
 
Roadrunner said:
This is indeed a sad tragedy--although, I find this a bit odd--when authorities found the car had run out of gas with the key in the 'on' position of the ignition--makes me wonder if they were set up or perhaps one of them was sucidical OR even the remote possibility that one of them was absent-minded and forgot to turn the car off.... :dunno:
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that's what got me wondering too...

why would someone forget to turn their car off like that? even with the keys inside? c'mon...you would still need your keys when you get inside the house, you know?

so, who knows if it was a set up or accident?

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a set up anyway.
 
Nothing's suspicious to me, RR & Steel; deaf people have been known to forget to turn off the ignition on occasion and then go upstairs to to their townhouse or condo and the fumes seep thru the garage ceiling & into their living quarters above.
 
Tousi said:
Nothing's suspicious to me, RR & Steel; deaf people have been known to forget to turn off the ignition on occasion and then go upstairs to to their townhouse or condo and the fumes seep thru the garage ceiling & into their living quarters above.
Click to expand...

I have done that a few times. I have left my car running a few times and my daughters would tell me that they can hear the car engine's hum. You can imagine how embarrased I was! My ex husband used to get fed up with me with leaving keys in ignition.

I dont always have to use the keys to unlock my doors because my ex husband would be at home when that happened but where I live now, it is VERY safe that I tend to leave it unlocked unless I am gone for a long time. I know it is NOT a good idea but where I live, it is virtually impossible for anyone to come to my place and steal without getting noticed as it is a very quiet and private setting.
 
Tousi said:
Nothing's suspicious to me, RR & Steel; deaf people have been known to forget to turn off the ignition on occasion and then go upstairs to to their townhouse or condo and the fumes seep thru the garage ceiling & into their living quarters above.
Click to expand...

True, it once happened to me at the college. I went into the classroom, then after a couple hours. I came out to the car and I realized that it was still running. I almost freaked out!
 
Roadrunner said:
This is indeed a sad tragedy--although, I find this a bit odd--when authorities found the car had run out of gas with the key in the 'on' position of the ignition--makes me wonder if they were set up or perhaps one of them was sucidical OR even the remote possibility that one of them was absent-minded and forgot to turn the car off.... :dunno:
Click to expand...
I thought the same thing. At first, I was thinking that it was a sad story. Suddenly, the comment about the car got me wondering how it might have actually happened. I mean, how would they get in the house if the key was left in the ignition? ;) Either it was suicide, the driver had an extra key, the wife opened the door, or door was already unlocked. :dunno:
 
I would think that if they came and went(stairs, remember) from the garage, there'd be no need for house keys as most of today's garages are opened with remote controllers.
 
A very sad story. :( They really should make carbon monoxide detectors with strobe flashers.

Also, I learned something new today. I never before heard about anyone leaving their car running without knowing it. But today I read several posts that mention it. Very interesting.
 
Reba said:
I never before heard about anyone leaving their car running without knowing it.
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(ahem)

It happened to me once. So yes, it does happen.
 
Banjo said:
Originally Posted by Reba
I never before heard about anyone leaving their car running without knowing it.

Banjo says:

It happened to me once. So yes, it does happen.
Click to expand...


What TweetyBird was getting at was... You said it happened to you, but Reba stated someone didn't know they left their car running -- So if it happened to you, how did you know?
 
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