Two Carbon Monoxide Victims In Arizona Were Rodeo Cowboys

Two teenagers found dead of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning in their pickup truck in Scottsdale, Ariz., had just participated in a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association competition. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_d9f11e12-473b-11df-8b87-001cc4c03286.html

Mike Hillman and Jesse Andrus, both 18-year-old high school seniors from Roswell, N.M., had traveled to Arizona last weekend to compete in the Fiesta Days Rodeo in Cave Creek, Ariz. Hillman won the saddle bronc riding competition, his first win ever in a PRCA rodeo. It was the first PRCA rodeo that Andrus competed in.

Hillman and Andrus had been scheduled to return home to New Mexico on Monday. When they didn’t show up, their parents reported them missing.

Scottsdale police found both young men dead in the camper shell of their truck, which was parked in a Safeway parking lot. Police suspect that the youths had a generator running at night, and that it emitted carbon monoxide fumes that killed the pair.

Goddard High School in Roswell, which Hillman and Andrus attended, has brought in a crisis intervention team to help students cope with the deaths.