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Man, four children found dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in N. Utah are identified

The five were found in an apartment in Richmond on Saturday. Detectives are still investigating.

(Cache County Sheriff's Office) A file photo of a Cache County Sheriff's Office vehicle. Authorities have released the names of five who died from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in Richmond.

(Cache County Sheriff's Office) A file photo of a Cache County Sheriff's Office vehicle. Authorities have released the names of five who died from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in Richmond.

The Cache County Sheriff’s Office has released the names of the man and four children found dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in Richmond.

Neighbors entered an apartment in a triplex on the 300 block of Main Street on Saturday after carbon monoxide detectors had been going off, the sheriff’s office said. Officers found a 43-year-old man dead in the garage.

That man was identified Tuesday evening as Fermin Palafox Herrera.

Deputies on Saturday then found four children dead in the apartment. Two of them were identified as Palafox Herrera’s son, Abraham Palafox, 16, and daughter, Emily Guadalupe Palafox, 11. The other two children were identified as Jesus Gabriel Alejandro-Soto, an 11-year-old boy, and Gritshen Sadashi Alejandro-Soto, a 5-year-old girl.

The Alejandro-Soto children were from Huancayo, Peru, and lived in the apartment with their father, who worked with Palafox Herrera, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

The fathers shared the apartment, the release said, and both had custody of their respective children.

Cache County detectives are still investigating the five deaths, the release said, to establish timelines, examine the vehicle and process items found in the home. Detectives also are waiting for the medical examiner’s report to confirm the exact cause of death, the sheriff’s office said.

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