‘Very sad’: Deaths stun Nahant neighbors
Three found in home with likely CO poisoning
NAHANT — Ted Mahoney stood in the bitter cold Tuesday, his voice heavy with sadness as he talked about the three adults found dead Monday inside a neighboring house where officials found high levels of deadly carbon monoxide.
“They were wonderful, wonderful people,” Mahoney said. The family lived in the singlefamily home on Cottage Street since the 1950s, he said.
“You couldn’t get better neighbors in America,” he said. “My children grew up here. We knew this family forever.”
The victims were identified as 77-year-old John Benson, his 74-year-old sister-in-law, Youngae Benson, and his 45-year-old nephew, Andrew Carruth, according to the office of Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker.
Authorities continue to work to determine the source of the carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless gas that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bluntly warned “can kill you.”
Officials said that emergency responders went to the home at 5 Cottage St. on Monday to conduct a well-being check.
“Nahant firefighters found elevated levels of carbon monoxide inside the home, and foul play is not suspected at this time,” officials said in a statement.
The deaths have stunned residents of the peninsula town on the North Shore.
Mahoney said he used to see his three neighbors walking around but hadn’t see them recently. He said he left a present at their back door for Christmas but doesn’t know if they ever got it.
Lorraine DiMuzio, who lives nearby on Winter Street, said she would often say hello to the family.
“They were always very pleasant,” she said. The woman used to go to the senior center and have lunch, she recalled.
Another neighbor, who asked not to be named, said they were “fine people.”
“The whole town will be very sad,” the neighbor said.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that “Carbon monoxide, or ‘CO,’ is an odorless, colorless gas that can kill you,” according to the agency’s website.
According to State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine’s office, firefighters in Massachusetts detected carbon monoxide 5,022 times during on-site investigations in 2022, slightly above the 10-year average of 4,750. About half the hazards were detected between December and February, when home heating systems are in regular use, according to Davine’s office.
The leading source of carbon monoxide in the home is malfunctioning heating systems, and 90 percent of carbon monoxide investigations are conducted at residential properties, the state fire marshal’s office said.
Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com. Follow her @Ava_Berger_.
John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe. Globe Correspondent Lila Hemple-Edgers contributed to this report.