NEWS

Sons blame faulty water heater installation for Springfield couple's death

Harrison Keegan
HKEEGAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

A Springfield plumbing company is being sued after a pair of carbon monoxide-related deaths last year in the Rountree neighborhood.

Police respond to the Rountree home of Dwaine and Judith Crigger on July 8, 2016.

Authorities say Dwaine and Judith Crigger, both 70, were found dead inside their home in the 900 block of South Kickapoo Avenue on July 8 after breathing in lethal amounts of carbon monoxide.

On Friday, the couple's sons filed a wrongful death lawsuit against DeLong Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning in connection with the deaths.

The lawsuit says DeLong installed a hot water heater in the couple's home, and flue gas from the appliance was the source of the carbon monoxide.

The lawsuit says DeLong was "negligent and/or reckless" when it installed the hot water heater in 2000 and then serviced the appliance over the next 16 years.

Dwaine Crigger shows off his pumpkin art in a 2003 News-Leader file photo.

Some of the claims in the lawsuit are that DeLong did not use enough screws, long enough pipe or proper supports when installing the hot water heater.

The lawsuit also claims DeLong failed to get a city permit to install the hot water heater or notify the Criggers over the years about damage to the vent connector.

Dwaine Crigger was a longtime art professor at Missouri State University. His high school sweetheart Judith taught elementary school for several years, according to the couple's obituary.

The attorneys listed for the Crigger sons and the DeLong plumbing company did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment for this report.

When Dwaine and Judith Crigger died this past summer, then-Mayor Bob Stephens said the couple would be sorely missed by the Springfield community.