Medical examiner in North Carolina hotel death cases resigns 

The death of an 11-year-old boy at a Boone, North Carolina, hotel could have been prevented had police been told that the carbon monoxide that killed him was also to blame for two earlier deaths in the same room, the city's police chief said.

Chief Dana Crawford's statement Monday came three days after Watauga County Medical Examiner Brent Hall resigned.

It wasn't clear if Hall's resignation on Friday was related to the three deaths in Room 225 of the Best Western Plus Blue Ridge Plaza. Daryl Dean Jenkins and his wife, Shirley Mae Jenkins, died on April 16; 11-year-old Jeffrey Williams died on June 8.

Hall received an e-mailed copy of the toxicology report on Shirley Mae Jenkins' death from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on June 1, a spokesman for the state agency said.

"The heater itself runs off of natural gas. A byproduct of the pool heater is carbon monoxide. The ventilation system that ventilates the carbon monoxide goes to outside the building, in close proximity to the heating and air conditioning units of 225," Le Beau added. "In addition, there were deficiencies found in the ventilation pipes that were in the ceiling area just below room 225. Carbon monoxide could also get into the room from that method as well."

Search warrant documents show police removed two sections of exhaust pipe for the heater from below the room, WSOC said.