A 43-year-old man and four children ages 16, 12, 11, and 5 were found dead inside a triplex apartment in the Cache County town of Richmond on Saturday, October 10, 2026, after neighbor Rick Pool entered the unit and found all five people dead. Pool had heard carbon monoxide alarms sounding for an extended period. The man was discovered in the garage, and the children were found inside the living area, according to a Cache County Sheriff's Office release.
Cache County Sheriff's deputies responded to the triplex around 12:15 p.m. after Pool called 911, according to KSL.com. The outlet reported that neighbor Rick Pool heard the alarms, entered the unit, found all five people dead and called 911. As KUTV also reported, the Cache County Sheriff's Office confirmed that all five were found dead at the triplex apartment complex after neighbors heard the alarms.
Authorities have not yet released the victims' names or confirmed their exact relationships to one another, per the same KSL account. Emergency personnel evacuated the adjacent units in the triplex following the discovery and transported an adult male from a neighboring apartment to the hospital for evaluation of potential carbon monoxide exposure, the report noted.
Richmond and the County Response
Richmond is in Cache County, where the Cache County Sheriff's Office responded to the incident.
The source of the gas and how long it had been accumulating inside the unit remain under investigation. Adjacent apartments were evacuated as a precaution following the discovery.
A Pattern of Carbon Monoxide Tragedies Across Utah in 2026
The Richmond deaths follow carbon monoxide incidents elsewhere in Utah. In February, three disabled men died inside a vehicle parked at a West Valley City apartment complex, according to Gephardt Daily.
Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless.
Gaps in Utah's Detector Requirements for Older Rentals
Utah law limits local governments' ability to require landlords to provide carbon monoxide detectors in older homes, and renters must provide their own detectors, according to KSL.com.
Whether the Richmond triplex had working detectors before the incident remains unknown.
Attached garages and fuel-burning heating systems can be sources of carbon monoxide exposure, and alarms are an important home-safety measure. Investigators with the Cache County Sheriff's Office have not yet disclosed what triggered the leak inside the Richmond unit, and the cause remains under investigation.
