The bodies of a man and woman were found Tuesday in a coal shipment at the McIntosh Power Plant in Lakeland, and police believe that the deaths were accidental.
Lakeland police said, the bodies of 25-year-old Christopher Francis Artes, of Baltimore, Maryland and 22-year-old Medeana Dina Hendershot, of South Carolina, were found in as workers were unloading a shipment of coal around 5:00 a.m.
Police have determined that both deaths were accidental.
The medical examiner confirmed today that Artes died due to asphyxiation, police said.
Hendershot died as a result of blunt force trauma to the mid-section, the medical said.
Police believe that Artes and Hendershot were killed as a boxcar the coal arrived in was emptied at the power plant.
It is also unclear how and why Artes and Hendershot ended up in the coal shipment.
The investigation is continuing.
