Palm Springs hotel guest died of carbon monoxide poisoning

The Riverside County coroner says a man found dead in a Palm Springs hotel room four months ago died from acute carbon monoxide poisoning.

On Nov. 13, Mark Ruf, 48, was discovered in a room at the Curve Hotel on East Palm Canyon Drive.

Investigators determined that carbon monoxide seeped into his second-floor room from pool heating equipment located below his room.

Ruf was an attorney from Ohio. His family has filed a lawsuit against the hotel, claiming it failed to follow up on a complaint by a guest who became ill in the same room two weeks prior to Ruf’s death.

The Palm Springs Police Department continues to investigate the case which could potentially lead to criminal charges.

“That’s one of the things our detectives are going to be working on, trying to contact people, that person or other people that were in the same room or same vicinity and had symptoms,” said Palm Springs Police Sgt. Paul Abshire.

Police say the faulty pool heating equipment has been removed from the hotel.

The general manager of the Curve Hotel did not make himself available for comment on Thursday.