LAKE CITY, Fla. -- Carbon monoxide is the suspected cause of death for two Jacksonville residents found in a home they were renovating.
According to the Lake City Police Department, the investigation began Saturday night when a woman reported her husband missing.
The woman said she had notified a relative in Lake City to check on her husband and another man at a home on NE Denver Street, where the two men had been working.
The relative said a vehicle was in the driveway, but nobody responded to knocking at the door.
Police arrived and looked through the windows of the home, spotting a man unresponsive in a chair.
The fire department forced entry into the home, and paramedics pronounced 74-year-old Willie Saulsby Smith dead at the scene.
First responders also detected high levels of carbon monoxide in the home and suspected a gas leak.
Everyone cleared out of the home until it was made safe for entry, at which time responders found the other man, 48-year-old John Thomas Rawls, in another room. He also was pronounced dead at the scene.
The police department does not suspect foul play.
