A three-month probe into the carbon monoxide poisoning death of a 21-year-old Evergreen State College student has come to a dark conclusion, revealing the incident could have been prevented. Jonathan Rodriguez tragically passed away in the December horror, with two fellow students hospitalized after a carbon monoxide leak in their on-campus apartment in Olympia, Washington.
According to a report by the Washington State Patrol, the silent killer - an odorless, colorless gas resulted from a botched tankless water heater installation. Alarmingly, not one, but several missteps contributed to this fatal event, including the disabling of CO alarms by campus maintenance staff, assuming they were malfunctioning on the fateful morning of December 11, 2023.
The Washington State Patrol disclosed that CO levels in Modular Unit # 305 spiked to more than 4,000 parts per million (ppm) in the utility room and over 1,000 ppm in a bedroom. The WSP enlisted Texas-based forensic engineering firm Bison Engineering to unravel the cause, which found that the water heater's venting was incorrectly installed, not adhering to the National Fuel Gas Code.
"This was a tragic yet avoidable situation," said WSP Chief John R. Batiste. The Washington State Patrol emphasized that the early signs were misread, handling them as false alarms rather than imminent danger signals. A shocking lack of training was uncovered amongst The Evergreen State College (TESC) employees regarding the critical functions of the Fire Alarm/CO systems.
With the investigation now closed, the case materials have been provided to the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for potential legal ramifications. The Evergreen State College is faced with the need for substantial corrective measures to prevent such tragedies in the future. Both entities are now under scrutiny as the community mourns the loss of a bright young life and grapples with the sobering reality of systemic negligence.
