A Wake County judge issued a permanent injunction on April 22 against three former maintenance workers employed by Appalachian Hospitality Management (AHM), which operated the Best Western hotel in Boone at the time three people died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Room 225.
BY JESSE WOOD
Set for Monday morning, the administrative court hearing for Damon Mallatere, the hotel executive charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter, has been continued again until June 23, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
BY JESSE WOOD
Damon Mallatere, the local hotel executive charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter, has an administrative court date on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
BY JESSE WOOD
In a chilling eight-minute segment, ABC 20/20 investigates the carbon monoxide deaths at the Best Western hotel in 2013. It features an interview with Jeannie Williams, the mother of 11-year-old Jeffrey Williams who became the third person to die in Room 225 of the Best Western hotel in Boone during a two-month span last year. Jeannie, 49, recounts seeing Jeffrey alive for the last time before becoming unconscious from carbon monoxide poisoning. “My last vision I have of him is just sitting on the edge of the bed and him holding the iPad and playing a game,” Williams told ABC’s 20/20.
COMPILED BY JESSE WOOD
Damon Mallatere, the president of Appalachian Hospitality Management at the time of the carbon monoxide deaths in Room 225 of the Best Western in Boone that occurred several months ago, turned himself in Friday just before noon to the Watauga County Magistrate’s office.
BY JESSE WOOD
Click inside to see the bill of indictment against Damon Mallatere, the president of Appalachian Hospitality Management at the time three people died from carbon monoxide poisoning inside Room 225 of the Best Western in Boone between April and July of 2013.
BY JESSE WOOD
Damon Mallatere, president of Appalachian Hospitality Management, has been charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of assault in relation to the three deaths that are linked to carbon monoxide poisoning inside Room 225 of the Best Western hotel.
BY JESSE WOOD
Photo by Jesse Wood
The Boone Police Department will present its investigative case file regarding the carbon monoxide deaths in Room 225 of the Best Western in Boone to the Office of the District Attorney today after wrapping up its criminal probe, according to a release Thursday from the Boone Police Department.
BY JESSE WOOD
District Attorney Jerry Wilson and Chief Prosecutor Britt Springer met with Boone’s Planning and Inspections department, Boone Police Chief Dana Crawford and investigators Andy LeBeau and Chris Hatten yesterday to ask for more information in regards to the tragedies in Room 225 of the Best Western Hotel earlier this year.
BY JESSE WOOD
Contractors, both licensed and unlicensed, could be facing legal action after the conclusion of the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors’ investigation into the case of the carbon monoxide-related deaths in room 225 of the Boone Best Western Hotel.
BY MADISON V. FISLER
Aug. 13, 2013. A spokesman with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said his agency believes no state agency employees “erred” during the investigations into the three carbon monoxide deaths at the Best Western Plus in Boone earlier this year. This determination comes two months after DHHS Director Aldona Wos said these tragedies “should have never happened.”
BY JESSE WOOD
July 26, 2013. The Best Western Plus in Boone, which opened earlier this week, is now accepting reservations. The Best Western was closed to the public for more than a month after three people died from carbon monoxide while staying in Room 225.
BY JESSE WOOD
July 19, 2013. Todd Miller, building inspector with the Town of Boone, said Boone Planning and Inspections issued a certificate of occupancy Thursday afternoon for the Best Western Plus, where three people died in Room 225 from carbon monoxide, and that the hotel is clear to open to the public.
BY JESSE WOOD
July 17, 2013. A “portfolio” of Boone hotels are listed for sale on the Hotel Assets Group website. Along with the Best Western Plus, where three people recently died from carbon monoxide, the Country Inn & Suites, La Quinta Inn & Suites, Sleep Inn and the Super 8 are listed for sale.
BY JESSE WOOD
June 19, 2013. The issue of carbon monoxide detectors in hotel rooms dominated the majority of the Boone Town Council meeting Tuesday night. In light of the tragic deaths at Best Western, the council unanimously passed a motion to petition the N.C. Building Code Council
BY MARK S. KENNA
June 18, 2013. Last Friday, Dr. Brent Hall, the local medical examiner who performed autopsies on the three individuals who recently died in Room 225 of the Best Western hotel, submitted his resignation to the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, according to Ricky Diaz, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
BY JESSE WOOD
June 14, 2013. Toxicology results arrived for Jeffery Williams, the 11-year-old boy who died of asphyxia in Room 225 of the Best Western in Boone last Saturday: “The blood concentration of carbon monoxide was greater than 60 percent. Dr. Hall advised that these CO levels would have caused the asphyxia that was noted in the autopsy.”
BY JESSE WOOD
June 13, 2013. On Thursday morning, Sgt. Shane Robbins, public information officer for the Boone Police Department, said that control of the Best Western in Boone, where three people died in the past three months from carbon monoxide poisoning, reverted back to owners/operators this morning with some restrictions.
BY JESSE WOOD
June 12, 2013. Local, state and federal investigators confirmed that a deficient exhaust system for the pool water heater at the Best Western in Boone led to the deaths of three lodgers who stayed in Room 225 during the past three months.
Room 225 is situated above the pool’s mechanical room that houses the water heater. It wasn’t the only room to have elevated carbon monoxide levels, but Room 225 had significantly higher levels that anywhere else in the hotel.
BY JESSE WOOD
Photo by Jesse Wood
June 12, 2013. According to the federal organization’s website, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is “charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction [and that] pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard.”
BY JESSE WOOD
June 11, 2013. Following the three deaths due to carbon monoxide in Room 225 of the Best Western in Boone during the past three months, the local owners have hired Paul Culpepper, a partner with the Hickory-based law firm Young, Morphis, Bach & Taylor.
BY JESSE WOOD
June 11, 2013. Beth Lovette, public health director of ADHD, said the violation in the March 6 report related to “ventilation of equipment rooms to provide worker safety only for handling pool chemicals in a semi-confined space.” “Ventilation of any combustion gases from appliances is not part of the health department pool inspection,” Lovette said, adding that the issue with elevated carbon monoxide in the hotel room “falls under the N.C. Mechanical Code and is outside of the public health department.
BY JESSE WOOD
June 11, 2013. The Watauga County Health Department will hold a press conference “to better understand the tragic incidents occurring at he Best Western Plus Blue Ridge Plaza,” according to a briefing about the upcoming press conference. The conference begins at 2 p.m. in the upstairs conference room at the health department.
BY JESSE WOOD
June 11, 2013. From locales far away such as Hawaii and Miami to national news outlets such as CNN and Yahoo, reporters across the country are following the recent deaths of three people who passed away from carbon monoxide poisoning in Room 225 of the Best Western in Boone.
BY JESSE WOOD
June 10, 2013. The cause of the three deaths and one hospitalization that occurred recently inside Room 225 of the Best Western in Boone is carbon monoxide, Boone Police Chief Dana Crawford officially announced at a late afternoon press conference Monday.
BY JESSE WOOD