The cause of death for two children who died Feb. 10 while staying in a van parked in a Detroit casino garage amid below-freezing temperatures was carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The results of the autopsies for Darnell Currie Jr. and his sister, A’Millah, were released Wednesday by the Medical Examiner’s Office. Their deaths were ruled accidental.
Detroit police officials initially said they believed A’Millah, 2, and Darnell, 9, died of hypothermia. The van lost heat at some point on Feb. 10 while parked in Greektown’s Hollywood Casino parking garage, and the temperature around midnight hovered at 17 degrees. The medical examiner’s office performed autopsies Feb. 11, the day after they died.
The children were staying in the van with their mother, two other siblings, a fifth child and their grandmother, according to police, who said they’d been living in it for two to three months. Both children were pronounced dead at Children’s Hospital of Michigan.
Tateona Williams, who said she discovered her son, Darnell, wasn’t breathing in the van around noon Feb. 10, told several media outlets that she tried several times to get help with housing before the tragedy. She said everybody now wants to help “after I lost two kids.”
“I’ve been asking for help,” Williams told WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) shortly after her kids’ deaths. “I feel like it wasn’t their time. I did everything I was supposed to do.”
The Detroit Police Department said it had received the medical examiner’s autopsy results and its investigation would continue.
“We will continue investigating the facts and circumstances of the case and submit our findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office,” Police Chief Todd Bettison said in a Wednesday statement.
Carbon monoxide poisoning
The deaths of Darnell and A’Millah aren’t the first caused by carbon monoxide poisoning inside a parking structure. Kellye Canty, 25, and her 10-month-old son, Kanan, of Detroit died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in March 2022. The two had been inside a car at a parking garage at Harper Hospital while her mother had an appointment.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas. It’s found in fumes produced by furnaces; kerosene heaters; vehicles “warmed up” in garages; stoves; lanterns; and from gas ranges and portable generators or by burning charcoal and wood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although carbon monoxide poisoning from a vehicle while it’s in a space like a large parking garage is rare, it’s still possible depending on where the vehicle is parked and how much air is circulating, said Dr. Asha Shajahan, a Corewell Health primary care physician who also teaches homeless medicine.
“Depending on where you were in the parking garage, if you’re in a corner where there’s a wall, you’re surrounded by several walls, and you don’t have as much circulation going with the outside open air,” Shajahan said. “It is a possibility.”
Each year, as many as 430 people die in the United States from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, and an estimated 50,000 visit an emergency room because of it, the CDC reported.
In general, it’s dangerous to stay in a running vehicle in an enclosed space, Shajahan said, adding that other people in the vehicle could have been affected to different degrees than the children who died.
“I can’t speculate what happened that night, or what happened that day, or where they were in the parking garage,” Shajahan said. “The ultimate take-home message is that these children died because of unfortunate circumstances, and these are the social determinants of health.”
The Corewell doctor said homelessness is one of the so-called social determinants of health, or economic and social conditions that influence or affect someone’s health status. Regardless of the medical cause listed on their death certificates, she told The News she believes homelessness killed the children.
“It’s a different case to say, ‘How do you prevent this tragedy?’ versus ‘How do you prevent carbon monoxide poisoning?’” said Shajahan, who did not treat the children. “There are several different social determinants of health … and I think that this is the case where, unfortunately, the children were not able to get their basic needs met of having a home.”
Family sought help
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan vowed to make changes to the city’s homelessness services after a review of records confirmed Williams had reached out to Detroit’s shelter intake system at least three times for help over several months, most recently in November 2024.
She first sought shelter in December 2023, though Duggan said it appeared the family did not use the temporary shelter that was offered. Workers from the city’s shelter intake system, known as the Coordinated Assessment Model, then tried to contact Currie in March, April and May last year to follow up on her housing situation, but records indicated they didn’t reach her.
Duggan called for in-person visits by outreach workers when the city’s shelter intake system receives calls for situations involving underage children facing loss of their housing imminently. The family’s situation was not deemed an emergency and street outreach workers didn’t end up connecting with them, the mayor said.
Duggan also said the city will double its number of drop-in shelter beds, which are available to people immediately without needing a referral from the shelter intake system.
A report created following the children’s deaths includes seven total recommendations for changes to ease shelter access for people in Detroit who need it immediately.
Duggan’s office declined comment Wednesday.
The Detroit Rescue Mission has now provided Williams’ family with a home rent-free for a year.
Staff Writer George Hunter contributed.
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