According to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, the teen and her mother both fell asleep in a running car while they were talking in the early-morning hours on Friday.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Investigators believe carbon monoxide exposure might have led to the death of a teenage girl early Friday morning.
It happened at the teen’s home near the intersection of Ella Boulevard and SH 249 in northwest Harris County.
According to investigators, the 15-year-old girl met her mother in the car after her mother got off work around 3 a.m.
Investigators said they talked in the car regularly and even sometimes slept in the car because they were familiar with it since they were recently homeless.
According to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, they both fell asleep in the running car while they were talking in the early-morning hours on Friday. A couple of hours later, the mother woke up and realized something was wrong.
“At approximately 5 a.m., the mother woke up, went into the home to wake up a second daughter so they could all go eat breakfast. When they returned to the car, they found the decedent was unresponsive and transported here where they met EMS,” Harris County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Abraham Alanis said.
The mother rushed her daughter to a nearby restaurant, where they met EMS. The teen was taken to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Gonzalez said they believe carbon monoxide exposure might have played a role in the teen’s death.
Investigators said they found no signs of trauma on the teen’s body.
The investigation is ongoing, and HCSO officials said they won’t know much more about the teen’s cause of death until an autopsy is done.