Loved ones speak out after woman dies of carbon monoxide poisoning

OREM — A couple attached at the hip who cared for each other deeply is how Alexander Perez would describe his coworker, Angelica Avila Almanza, and his brother, Luis Perez.

“When I first met Angelica, she was wonderful,” Alexander Perez said in Spanish. Almanza, Luis Perez, and four others were exposed to carbon monoxide.

On Aug. 7 in Vineyard, the couple was inside Luis Perez’s car, and the garage door closed. The couple turned on the car to use the air conditioning.

“Angelica asked Luis to open the garage, he turned off the car, and got out but doesn’t remember anything else,” Alexander Perez said.

Almanza and Luis Perez were in the worst condition and were rushed to a local hospital. “(Luis) was unconscious. He was breathing through a ventilator,” Alexander Perez said. “The doctor asked me to try and speak to him to see if he would react. He blinked, and a tear came down his face.”

Almanza was taken to Intermountain Medical Center and was pulled off life support on Sunday. The four others, including Almanza’s child, were also treated and released.

Colleagues of the couple are raising funds* to try and help those impacted, especially Luis Perez, who Alexander Perez said has been living with guilt.

“It was really important for me to support them especially when you don’t know a lot of people, there’s a language barrier, you don’t know what resources are available to you,” said Lia Joo.

Joo didn’t know the couple directly but after learning of their situation she felt the need to help.

“What spoke out to me most is that this could have happened to any family,” Joo said.

Alexander Perez and Joo are urging people to double-check their detectors to make sure they work.

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