PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Police are investigating the deaths of a family of three people found Thursday in their home in the city’s northeast.
Around 1 p.m., police and fire rescue responded to a 911 call requesting a check on the well-being of the residents at a home in the 4000 block of Ashburner Street in Holmesburg.
When they went inside, police found the bodies of 56-year-old Jorge Cardona, 47-year-old Maricel Martinez, and their 12-year-old daughter Angelina Cardona.
Elizabeth Sanchez, mother to Maricel and grandmother to Angelina, was one of the many family members at the scene taking in the tragic news.
“Parents always think that they’ll go first. I never thought I’d have a funeral for my daughter, let alone my granddaughter," Sanchez said.
“My daughter was an excellent daughter. I will miss them a lot."
Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy on the scene said first responders detected elevated levels of carbon monoxide inside the house. Carbon monoxide poisoning is suspected but not confirmed as the cause of death.
“Preliminarily — according to my friends from the police department — it doesn't look like there was any reason for us to believe that it was anything malicious,” Murphy said.
A fourth unnamed person is hospitalized. Murphy said as fire crews arrived, medics were transporting to the hospital one woman who was outside the house. No information about her identity or condition is available.
Jorge was a cleaner at Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County.
His coworker, Katrina Orama said he loved working there, and it was concerning when he did not show up for work Thursday without notice.
“He never does no calls, no shows… We started getting worried because we’re all calling him, we’re all texting him. It’s not like him to not respond,” she said.
She and her coworkers later found out from their boss that Cardona, his wife, and their daughter had died.
"He's humble, very humble, very funny. A sweet man. Family man. Loved to work,” Orana said. “He's family to us, all of us at school. He loved all of us, and we all loved him.”
The investigation into this incident is ongoing.