In Brief

RUNNING CAR

Woman hospitalized after gas incident

A woman was in critical condition, and four pets were killed, after a running car filled her condominium with carbon monoxide gas, the Las Vegas Fire Department said.

Firefighters responded to the Chateau Versailles complex, off Alexander Road near the Las Vegas Beltway, after a neighbor noticed a strange smell and called 911 about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday, Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

The firefighters measured lethal levels of carbon monoxide around one of the buildings and started evacuating its 16 units, breaking into any units where no one answered the door. They found the woman, who was unconscious in her bedroom, he said.

She was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition. Firefighters found five small dogs and three cats unconscious in her condo. They revived four dogs with a special oxygen mask for pets.

A mother and child were taken to the hospital, and two other people were treated at the scene.

GAS FIREPLACE

Police say man killed by carbon monoxide

A Kingman, Ariz., man who failed to open the flue to properly vent his natural gas fireplace died of carbon monoxide poisoning Tuesday, police said.

Police Sgt. Rusty Cooper said a visiting acquaintance found the 33-year-old dead at his duplex about 3 p.m.

Cooper said the man, whose name was withheld pending notification of kin, appeared to have tried to crawl to safety. His body was found partly on the patio.

Cooper said the incident highlights the caution needed when using heating devices within the home.

11-YEAR-OLD'S DEATH

Judge: Murder charge against mother stands

A judge in Las Vegas has refused to dismiss a murder charge against a woman whose conviction in the death of her diabetic 11-year-old daughter was overturned.

Clark County District Court Judge Sally Loehrer said Wednesday that trying Cheryl Botzet again in the death of her daughter, Ariel Botzet, would not constitute double jeopardy or vindictive prosecution.

But the judge identified what she called a fatal flaw in the indictment handed up in October against the 43-year-old mother, who now uses her maiden name, Cheryl Musso.

The document alleged Musso neglected her daughter in Clark County from May 2002 to her death in February 2004. But Musso was living in Colorado in 2002.