NorthwestFebruary 11, 2004

Associated Press

MEDFORD, Ore. -- A 4-year-old boy who was riding in the back of his family's pickup truck as they headed from Medford to Yreka, Calif., died from carbon monoxide asphyxiation.

The poison apparently came from an exhaust leak that family members did not know about, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department in California.

The family had stayed in Medford for several days during a trip that started in Washington state and was to end in Mexico, Siskiyou sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said.

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Audel Silva-Corona and his older sister asked to ride in the bed of the pickup when they left Medford Saturday, Gravenkamp said.

Their parents stopped in Grenada to check the kids and found the boy unconscious and his sister very ill, police said.

A passing motorist used a cellular telephone to alert the California Highway Patrol, police said.

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