Family including 2 kids dead

A family of four is dead after they apparently asphyxiated in their mobile home in south Ector County, Sheriff Mark Donaldson said.

Donaldson would not identify the family pending notification of next of kin.

The sheriff said foul play is not suspected. He said a neighbor discovered the family after “seeing something through the window” Monday.

Gabe Bazea, a nearby neighbor, said he was horrified by the scene earlier Monday evening.

“I got chills when I drove down the street,” Bazea said, adding that he could hear people hysterically crying from his home about a quarter mile from the scene close to Pleasant Farms.

Bazea said the family had two children, whom he estimated were between 6 and 8 years old. He said the family had only lived there for about four months and said he believed the children attended school with his own children. He speculated they didn’t have any electricity or water, except for a recently added generator.

“I would never see light in there,” Bazea said, adding the family kept mostly to themselves.

While investigators didn’t say Monday night what led to the family’s death, a common cause of asphyxiation is carbon monoxide poisoning, particularly in cold weather months when space heaters are used in closed spaces. As of press time, there was no word on whether or not the family died due to carbon monoxide.

Bodies are typically sent to Fort Worth for autopsy, though the OA could not confirm Monday night if that was planned.

Carbon monoxide in June claimed the lives of five West Texans after the truck they were riding in became half-submerged in standing water at a horse track near Pleasant Farms.