Family of Washington state couple killed by carbon monoxide sues motel chain

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The family of a Washington state couple who died of carbon monoxide poisoning while guests at a North Carolina motel is suing the property's owners, a contractor who worked on a faulty pool heater and others.

Lawyers for the family of Daryl and Shirley Jenkins of Longview, Washington, said Tuesday a series of equipment failures and human errors caused their deaths.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Mecklenburg County state court names motel chain Best Western International, its local franchisee in Boone, a company accused of botching the pool heater's conversion to natural gas, and a heating contractor that failed to correct problems with venting the heater's exhaust gases.

Eleven-year-old Jeffrey Williams of Rock Hill, South Carolina, died in the same motel room about a month after the Jenkinses in 2013.