A man found dead with his seven children in a US home where power was cut due to an outstanding bill had tried to keep the family warm with a generator, a relative said.
Lloyd Edwards said his stepson, 36-year-old Rodney Todd, had bought the generator after the power was shut off to the Maryland home.
He said the children who also died were Todd and Todd's two sons and five daughters.
"To keep his seven children warm, (Todd) bought a generator," Edwards said, adding: "The carbon monoxide consumed them."
Local police chief Scott Keller said a generator was found without petrol in the home's kitchen when the bodies were found Monday.
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A police statement said only that the cause of the deaths remains under investigation and it identified the victims as an adult and seven children.
Police said officers found them in the home after being contacted by the man's co-worker, who was anxious because the man hadn't been seen in days.
Matt Likovich, a spokesman for Delmarva Power, would not say whether the power had been cut off. He said the matter is being investigated.
People hugged each other and looked on sombrely outside the home Monday as police officers stood by and investigators went through the house. The home was encircled with yellow police tape.
"It's so hard," stepfather Lloyd Edwards said.
Bonnie Edwards, Todd's mother, identified the man's children as boys Cameron, 13, and Zycheim, 7; and girls Tynijuiza, 15; Tykira, 12; Tybree, 10; Tyania, 9; and Tybria, 6.
Bonnie Edwards described her son as a loving, caring young man who set an example for his children. "I don't know anyone his age who would have done what he did" for his children, she said. "I was so proud to say he took care of seven kids."
