Anacortes police investigate death of woman, daughter

ANACORTES — Police are investigating the apparent carbon-monoxide deaths of a 41-year-old woman and her 16-month-old daughter, who were found in a basement utility room Wednesday beside a burning pile of charcoal briquettes.

The woman’s husband smelled the strong odor and found the pair when he arrived home from work, said Anacortes police Capt. Ken Clark. The man carried his daughter outside, screaming to neighbors to call 911. Nearby workers ran into the house and pulled the wife outside.

The woman, Janet Rasmussen, had a history of depression and had disappeared with the little girl, Anna, in April, Clark said. The two were found a few days later in the Darrington-Concrete area, in the Cascade Mountain foothills northeast of Seattle, and the husband tried to ensure the woman received psychiatric help, Clark said.

Autopsies will be performed today, Skagit County Coroner Daniel Dempsey said.

Clark said the woman left no note. He did not know if the door to the utility room was open when the husband arrived home. The heat in the home was working.

Police arrived to find the two outside and performed CPR. The girl was taken to a hospital, where she died.

“Just a sweetheart of a little girl,” Clark said. “That’s tough — giving mouth-to-mouth to little kids. And the officers all have children about that age.”