Hotel Where Teens Died Didn't Have CO Detectors

HIALEAH (CBS4) - The Hialeah motel where five young men died last month from carbon monoxide poisoning from a running car did not have carbon monoxide detectors as required by city law.

Family friends told CBS4 that the men had gone to the El Presidente Hotel at 1395 SE 8th Court to celebrate a friend's 18th birthday.

The victims were: Juchen Martial, who turned 19 ; Evans Charles, 19; Jonas Antenor, 18; Peterson Nazon, 17; and Jean Pierre Ferdinand, 16.

Hialeah Department Lt. Cesar Espinosa said the bodies of the men were discovered just before 2 p.m. on December 27th by a hotel employee.

"She discovered five black males in the room and she immediately called 911," Espinsosa said. "When the fire department got there, they discovered them in Room 112, and the door had been left open to a garage on the first floor that is next to the room and a car was still running."

The motel, which has since installed CO detectors, will not be fined because they are now in compliance, Fire Chief Marcos De La Rosa told CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald.

Records show the El Presidente was last inspected in April 2008, roughly eight months before it would have been required to have at least one detector on each floor.

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