Three Marines Found Dead In Car From Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Authorities

 Three Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were found dead in a car at a Speedway gas station Sunday morning from what authorities say was carbon monoxide poisoning. 

The Pender County Sheriff’s Office received a call Sunday from the mother of one of the Marines who became worried when her son didn’t arrive home in Oklahoma on his scheduled flight Saturday night, according to Jacksonville, North Carolina outlet, the Daily News. After beginning an investigation, authorities found the missing Marine, along with two other Marines, dead inside a vehicle at the Speedway station around 30 miles south of the base. Deputies were directed to the gas station by the mother, who pinged her son’s phone to find its location. 

“I am saddened by the timeless and tragic death of these three young men who served our country honorably,” said Sheriff Alan W. Cutler in a press release, according to the Daily News. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with their families and colleagues during this time.”

After the Marines’ families were notified of the deaths, autopsies were performed by the North Carolina Office of the Medical Examiner, which found that all three deaths were consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning. Authorities did not immediately say if the deaths were accidental, The New York Post reported. 

The Marines were identified as Lance Corporal Merax Dockery, 23, of Pottawatomie, Oklahoma; Lance Corporal Tanner Kaltenberg, 19, of Madison, Wisconsin; and Lance Corporal Ivan Garcia, 23, of Naples, Florida. All three of the men were vehicle operators in the Combat Logistics Battalion 2, Combat Logistics Regiment 2, and 2nd Marine Logistics Group at Camp Lejeune, USA Today reported. 

Dockery joined active-duty service in 2020, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. and was previously stationed at Camp Pendleton in California and at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Dockery’s mother, Heather Glass, told the Associated Press, “I feel at peace because I know he was asleep when he passed.” One of Dockery’s sisters, Micah, wrote on Facebook, “My handsome kind baby brother is gone. I don’t feel like this is real, it can’t be.”

 

Kaltenberg went to high school in Verona, Wisconsin, before joining the Marines in May 2021. He was first based in San Diego at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, and like Dockery, went to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri before ending up at Camp Lejeune.

Garcia went to high school in Naples, Florida, before entering active-duty service in 2019. He, too, started in San Diego at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot before being moved to Fort Leonard Wood and then to Camp Lejeune.