The owner of a Holbrook auto detailing shop and his employee were both found dead Thursday night from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning, Suffolk County police said.
Police responded to Super Auto Detail on Lincoln Avenue after 54-year-old Porfiro Alvarez’s concerned relatives were unable to enter the business because it was locked. The family hadn’t been in contact with Alvarez since Tuesday evening, police said.
Alvarez, of Freeport, was found lying next to his 1989 GMC van, which had apparently been left running. The ignition was on and heat set on high, police said. The van’s gas tank was empty when police arrived.
Alvarez’s employee, 25-year-old Jose Rufino Gonzalez, of Bellport, was found lying on a mattress in the back of the van, police said.
“It appears that Alvarez and Gonzalez, who occasionally slept at the business, were apparently overcome by the carbon monoxide fumes that emanated from the van,” police said in a news release.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office, police said.
