- Two men face manslaughter charges after a woman dies from carbon monoxide.
- The men left her in a running car for seven hours, police say.
- The incident occurred after heavy drinking during a birthday celebration in American Fork.
AMERICAN FORK — Two men who were celebrating a woman's birthday are facing criminal charges accusing them of drinking heavily, then leaving the woman in a vehicle parked in the garage with the engine running for seven hours.
The woman died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Adrian J. Penalver Campuzano, 21, and Gleiverson Chacon-Medina, 20, were each charged Tuesday in 4th District Court with manslaughter, a second-degree felony.
On Saturday, Campuzano and Chacon-Medina were celebrating a woman's birthday and all three were "drinking heavily," according to charging documents. Police say the three started drinking about 8 p.m. on Friday.
Several hours later, early Saturday, "the three of them went into the garage to smoke since it was cold outside. The three of them got into Campuinzano's vehicle and Campuinzano turned on the car to run the car heater," the charges state.
"They sat inside the vehicle between the hours of 4:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. and turned the engine on to run the heater," a police booking affidavit states.
"(The woman) began to shake and or have a seizure (and) threw up," according to the charges.
Campuzano and Chacon-Medina got out of the Dodge Durango and at first attempted to take the woman with them, but later told police "they were too impaired to lift her any farther than just outside the car," the affidavit says. The two "stated that they then placed the victim back in the passenger seat."
Thinking that the woman was asleep, the men left the woman in the car with the vehicle running while they went back into the house.
"(She) was located, deceased and in full rigor about seven hours later, showing signs of carbon monoxide poisoning," charging documents state.
The men woke up about 1 p.m. When officers arrived on scene about 1:15 p.m., the vehicle was still running.
The woman is only identified in court documents as "J.R." Her full name and age have not been released.
