The Summit County medical examiner says two children whose bodies were recovered from a house explosion and fire in Northfield in January were asphyxiated and their deaths have been ruled homicides.
But it’s unclear who killed the children, authorities said Thursday.
The bodies of their parents, Jeffrey and Cynthia Mather, also were recovered at the scene.
The medical examiner’s office released details of their death certificates, saying there was no evidence of smoke inhalation for the children or Cynthia Mather.
Jeffrey Mather burned himself to death after using gasoline to set fire to their Skyhaven Drive house, authorities said. His death has been ruled a suicide.
Meanwhile, Cynthia Mather died of an overdose using Prozac, an antidepressant for which she had a prescription. It’s unclear whether her death was a suicide or a homicide. There were no other drugs or alcohol in her system, Medical Examiner Gary Guenther said.
“It is unclear which parent is responsible for the death of the two children or how the children were asphyxiated, and we will not speculate on the circumstances,” the medical examiner said in a news release.
The Mather home exploded into flames Jan. 11. The couple, both 43, lived there with their two daughters, 12-year-old Alyson and 8-year-old Ruthie.
Authorities have previously said they suspected that Jeffrey Mather set the fire. His body was discovered alone in the house with a gas can nearby. His wife and daughters were found in a hallway on the first floor, but investigators guessed they were actually upstairs and fell to the first floor when the ceiling collapsed.
The medical examiner says that Jeffrey Mather died of a “thermal injury with full body burns.”
Investigators have said they found no signs of marital or financial problems, but they did learn Jeffrey Mather had been seeing a counselor after he reportedly heard a “dark voice” urging him to shoot himself in a park in early December.
Two days before the explosion, Cynthia Mather reportedly told her sister through a text message that her husband’s situation was looking “not well.”
The mystery of how Cynthia Mather died — whether she took the Prozac herself or whether she was forced — may never be solved. Guenther said others in Summit County have died of Prozac overdoses, but it’s uncommon.
Jenna Garlock, an Akron pharmacist who teaches toxicology at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown Township, said Thursday that Prozac “is not one of those medications you think of with either homicide or suicide” even though it’s possible to overdose on any drug.
People who overdose on heroin often don’t realize what’s happening because the drug decreases the body’s desire to breathe. People often pass out and stop breathing altogether, Garlock said.
Drugs like Prozac, however, impact the body differently. An overdose can change the heart’s rhythm or trigger something called serotonin syndrome, which can cause muscles to get rigid, tremors and a rise in body temperature that affects the organs.
A person overdosing on nothing but Prozac would almost certainly realize what is happening, Garlock said.
According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, there were more than 50,000 overdoses involving drugs like Prozac in 2012, yet only five deaths, Garlock said, adding that the numbers are almost certainly severely underestimated.
If people get to an emergency room within two hours of taking too much Prozac or a similar drug, staff can counteract the overdose. After that, she said, emergency rooms manage the symptoms.
“It’s important to get help quickly,” Garlock said
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.