OLYMPIA, Wash. — The state has agreed to pay a $25 million settlement to the family of Jonathan Rodriguez, The Evergreen State College student who died of carbon monoxide poisoning in December of 2023.
The college and state Attorney General's Office confirmed the settlement payout to KING 5.
On December 11, 2023, Rodriguez, 21, and two other students were found unconscious in a modular housing unit. Rodriguez died, while the other two students survived.
A campus police officer was also sent the hospital and survived.
Investigators blamed faulty installation of a tankless water heater in the housing a week before the poisonings. They also said that despite alarms repeatedly going off, campus maintenance crews failed to recognize there was a carbon monoxide leak.
One of the students hospitalized due to the leak - Rodriguez' girlfriend - told investigators that maintenance crews had told her it was OK to return to her unit despite the sounding of a carbon monoxide alarm. Within hours Rodriguez was dead and his girlfriend and roommate were hospitalized.
According to Thurston County prosecutors, Frank McCutcheon, 53, and his son Brett McCutcheon, 32, did not properly follow instructions when installing the unit by failing to properly connect exhaust pipes, allowing for the leak of the colorless, odorless, deadly carbon monoxide.
They were charged July 11 with manslaughter in the second degree, with prosecutors alleging that their negligent actions caused Rodriguez' death. An investigator said their actions were a “gross deviation” from what reasonable people would have done.
The McCutcheons entered not guilty pleas to the charge and face a trial in November.
The college has made several changes since the incident.
"Since the tragedy in December, Evergreen immediately stopped using housing units that used propane for heat or hot water, ensuring a tragedy like that which took the life of Jonathan Rodriguez never happens again,” Dr. John Carmichael, president of The Evergreen State College, said in a previous statement.
New housing units will also open for students when school resumes Sept. 30.
KING 5 reached out to Rodriguez' family for comment and their attorney said they are grieving the loss of their son and are asking for privacy.
The college said it will not be commenting out of respect for the family.