Two Women Dead, Motel Closed After Carbon Monoxide Found at Scene
Press release from Eureka Police Department:
On February 21st, 2026 at approximately 2:00 p.m., Officers with the Eureka Police Department (EPD) and members of the Humboldt Bay Fire (HBF) were dispatched to a motel at the 4000 block of Broadway for a report of two unconscious patients due to a possible drug overdose. Upon arrival, one patient, 37-year-old female, was found deceased and the additional patient was transported to a local hospital.
On February 26th, 2026 at approximately 12:00 p.m., EPD and HBF were dispatched to an additional report of two individual’s unconscious at the same motel in the 4000 block of Broadway, and in the same room as the call from February 21st, from a suspected drug overdose. Again, one patient, 36- year-old female, was found deceased and the additional patient was found in critical condition and was transported by City Ambulance to a local hospital.
During the second incident, after the patient was transported, HBF personnel on scene displayed signs of mild Carbon Monoxide exposure. HBF conducted atmospheric monitoring inside the room using a gas monitor, which registered elevated levels of Carbon Monoxide in the room. No Carbon Monoxide detectors were located in the room. HBF Battalion Chief, Deputy Chief/Fire Marshall, Detectives and Evidence Techs from the Criminal Investigations Unit with EPD, Pacific Gas and Electric Company responded to the scene. Occupants were evacuated from the motel while it was ventilated.
The property owner was contacted and at that time, City of Eureka’s Code Enforcement and the Chief Building official were requested to the scene. The Chief Building official, HBF Fire Chief and the Fire Marshall determined the motel should not be occupied until mechanical inspections of each room were completed and additional fire code violations are remedied. The City of Eureka Building Official served the business owner with a First and Final Notice requiring the location to be closed until identified violations are remedied and inspected.
It should be noted, in accordance with the California Fire Code, HBF conducted the annual fire inspection of the motel in July of 2025, violations were notated however upon additional inspection a week later, the violations were corrected.
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I see a multi-million dollar lawsuit on the horizon
That’s okay. If it was PG&E’s fault we will all pay for it. And if it’s an insurance settlement then we will all pay for that too! We The people will pay, pay, pay!!
Except the Billionaire Broligarchs. King Donald Christ protects them.
Obvious TDS.
That would be the person that ripped the detector off the wall to try and sell for a quick buck. Makes you wonder if selling for food or fentanyl, one i have compassion for the other is very poor decision that rests only on the shoulders of the user, very disappointing life choice.
WTF man. First you concoct a crime out of thin air and then start speculating on the imaginary perp’s motives, giving him a pass for one reason and condemning him for another.
I hope you’re having pleasant weather in fantasy land, but how could it be otherwise.
“ripped the detector off the wall to try and sell for a quick buck.”
Humboldt County’s version of entrepreneurialism. Hardly surprising given the anemic economy, widespread poverty, and ubiquitous street drug use where eating is a nice-to-have and getting high is a must.
Smoke detectors dont detect carbon monoxide. CO detectors do.
They’re gonna have to do some autopsies to see how many of those previous “overdodes” were from CO too.
Bill, that is a very good point, but will they actually do that. That’s a million-dollar question.
It was definitely the carbon monoxide levels not the fentanyl levels. Is this a government subsidized hotel? Or were these ladies on vacation from their regular work schedule enjoying the touristic sites that Humboldt trail has to offer?
Not sure exactly what your point is. Either way it’s horrible, two young women dead and two more poisoned
Not sure why the hotel was not named here. Angie’s Outhouse named it. The Lamplighter on South Broadway. It was The Lamplighter
It is sad that we have so many drug addicts here that the first death was simply assumed a fentanyl overdose. Because the other 2 women got the same problem FIVE DAYS LATER. Perhaps if something beyond yet another fentanyl overdose was expected these 2 women would not have suffered…
Reminds me of a true crime episode where the whole household is found dead / dying and LEOs treated them all like absolute trash because they assumed they were overdosing – not deathly ill with carbon monoxide poisoning.
The cops are culpable in what happened 5 later by assuming it was overdose instead of spending any time at all trying to rule out the possibility it was hotel negligence out to kill them.
Angie’s Outhouse, love that.
hadn’t heard that before
Well…it’s really just all about her shit over there. A living reminder that totalitarianism can come from both the right and the left side….
Angie’s Outhouse!!!😂😂😂 That’s fucking HILARIOUS!!!😂😂😂👍👍👍
Not really. It’s an old name given by butthurt people who were banned from commenting there by Angie the moderator. She is actually a nice lady. She doesn’t own the Lost Coast Outpost or as some say LoCo.
Ha Ha! She’s a friggin nazi. Yes- old nazi ladies were nice too- if you agreed with them always
Why do you suppose that is, though, that people were “butthurt”? Maybe because they were aware that they were banned simply because Angie didn’t agree with them. That is a dictator-like M.O. For instance, i have never been rude, never advocated for violence or hatred, i don’t call people names, i don’t speak lies… yet i questioned too much, or had a sense of humor– so i had to go. I don’t know that i’m “butthurt,” and in fact am snooty enough that i think that expression is nothing i would use on my own… but i would not ban someone for using it. Angie would ban someone for saying “Yes!” if they were affirming something she opposed.
I am proud to have been banned. LoCO has become so notorious for that sort of willy-nilly censorship that many realize there’s a pretty good chance that one’s banned status there is due to their high intelligence. I would have happy “Banned by LoCO!” t-shirts made if i weren’t loath to spread awareness of that ridiculous site in any way.
Cry me a river. There are plenty of people commenting there that don’t seem to run afoul of her. And the intelligence level there is quite high. Some of the banned people that ended up here raised the level there by leaving and lowered it here.
I would be curious to see how many people that got banned there ended up getting banned here.
If you’re not PC enough, Lost Coast Outpost will not only ban you but will slag your comments.
This is a press release from EPD. They wrote it and they chose not to name the motel.
Thanks for clarifying!
Now can we ask, why not?
Kinda strange.
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California law (SB 183 and subsequent updates) requires carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in all hotels and motels with fossil fuel-burning appliances or attached garages, effective since January 1, 2016.
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If they passed a fire inspection in July… Carbon Monoxide detectors usually last 10 years.
Lots of those motel rooms have an electric heat pump/air conditioning located outside each room. Produces no CO… so that sort of installation doesn’t require an CO alarm.
So, here’s a bit of a question. Did the resident have a charcoal burning (hibachi/barbeque etc) inside the room (probably not FD would have detected that)… or maybe… there was another resident who had a hibachi/barbeque inside the building ?
Hint to anybody who doesn’t know this… burning charcoal inside… or without adequate full ventilation = Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Often with a fatal outcome.
But then again… I dunno.
Next thing you know, smartphones will have CO meters and alarms. Maybe not a bad idea. Smoke you can smell but you just don’t know with the CO until you’re on your way out.
Brilliant, and it would probably only cost $1.79 per phone (just guessing).
Available via a $5.00 per month “subscription.”
Gotta relentlessly quench the tech bro oligarchs’ insatiable thirst for money.
Oh- don’t forget the tax on it too!
Ok I use to use substances so I have a place to talk about it. I am going to school now and I’m taking addictions studies. I just learned and had to do a report on stimulus induced psychosis okay and I’m just saying not only fitting all users stay there but also methus or goes there and they put them CO2 monitors up and they end up because whatever thing that it’s cameras and s*** I’ve seen it now time and time again when I lose to use so I mean I can only stay say what I can say and I’m just saying that maybe it’s not always the owner then maybe not every gift I get that you know he doesn’t charge that much for a room at night it’s the cheapest place in Eureka to stay I couldn’t afford any place else even being clean I can’t you know. To pay my rent every month in my apartment and all my bills and that’s it that’s all you know and that’s all I’ve got for right now until I get through college. By the way I’m 53 so I’m getting up there and I’m running out of time so I wasted too much time so. I just wanted to share that it’s just a thought I mean I’m not trying to stick up for anybody that’s not what I’m doing here I’m just being totally honest. Thank you for letting me share a little of my story. A lot of people that do meth actually have mental health issues so just let you know
Eight years clean and sober myself. Congratulations on getting clean. Stay the course, it’ll get better.
Thanks for adding that piece to the puzzle. Congratulations on getting clean and please Stay The Course. Life has so many beautiful trips to it and I’m glad you’ll be experiencing some new ones…
No the hate speech to text. I meant fentanyl users and meth users
Interesting, looked them up on Google to see how many stars they had and read some reviews, this was in the third review I read and this is a direct quote taken from it.
“After turning on the old gas heat pump the smell of burning dust and oil filled the room, there’s a greasy battery operated carbon monoxide sensor that was questionable whether it worked or not sitting on the dresser.”
Why are hotels allowed to operate like this? if any other private property owner allowed this to happen on their property they would be charged at minimum with “maintaining a residence” yet the city allows drug Den after drug den to operate, many receiving government subsidies.. This is not compassion, this is enabling..
It has been true for many, many decades and remains true today:
The actions and inactions of goverment entities in Humboldt County typically reflect the priorities, values, and concerns of the people of Humboldt County.
‘Nuff said.
After the shit hits the fan, someone will probably go to jail.
It’ll come down to the motel not providing a safe environment that meets mandated state health and life safety codes which supersede most city and county codes. They’re insurance will be cancelled thus rendering the motel not habitable.
I have CO detectors in my house and garage.
I’ll be packing one in my Room Bag from now on when I’m traveling.
If the primary & 1st major indicator of CO poisoning, cherry-red discoloration of the skin [persistent in both fatal & near-fatal poisoning/injury cases; is drastically different than the usual skin color change after death, postmortem lividity/livor mortis], was present on the first death & critical injury victims from the 21st, then it’s extremely sad if it was missed, especially for the 2nd set of victims.
Early observations of this symptom dates to 1570.
That symptom, if present, should’ve quickly triggered further investigation to verify CO poisoning and into the possible sources of CO at the motel.
Did they not figure out why the 1st victim that survived was critically injured?
Carboxyhemoglobin testing?
Waiting for weeks or months for a full autopsy without some preliminary blood/hemoglobin tests may have setup the basic circumstances for the 2nd round of poisoning.
CO binds to hemoglobin with ~240x the affinity vs Oxygen
Is very unusual for motels to have non-central natural gas fired heat pumps or furnaces and/or other gas appliances in the rooms.
To my understanding of the Fire Codes (IFC, UFC, & CFC), commercial boarders (hostels, motels, hotels) that have gas fired appliances/equipment are required to have in all enclosable rooms a hardwired CO detector with an internal battery backup that is networked with ALL the other CO detectors in the same building, not plugin or battery only powered units (which are not networked to others).
This is looking like a case of serious negligence (maybe multiple parties) & potentially criminal for the motel owner.
PS
For humans, every 2 molecules of CO absorbed it takes 5hrs to exhale 1 of them (the half-life of carboxyhemoglobin).
wrong. see below
Half-life of blood carboxyhemoglobin after short-term and long-term exposure to carbon monoxide
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10912868/
Try again mel.
Did you even read the Abstract of that study?
Quick internet searches and AI results require review and verification.
That study was done using Sheep, NOT Humans.
Took all of 30secs to find that detail listed under Methodology Used.
For instance, the half life of COHb in rats is ~20mins.
It varies very widely amongst the species.
First Alert makes mobile unit that monitors carbon monoxide and issues an alarm if levels are dangerous. It’s a good idea to travel with one. https://support.firstalert.com/s/active-product/a3J4x0000020RdQEAU/co1210
Odd the motel’s identity is kept secret in this article.
This is a press release, written and distributed by EPD.
Since carbon monoxide poisoning gives its victims a bright red skin color, it’s odd that it took two such incidents to figure it out. Guess the cops wanted a quick check of the drug overdose box on the death certificate?
Are smoke and carbon monoxide detectors Not required in hotels as they are required in other rental, such as houses and apartments ?
Smoke detector is required.
Carbon Monoxide detector is required if the lodging has a fueled heating source.
(Capable of producing CO).