Mom and 2 Teen Sons Found Dead After Reported Exposure to Carbon Monoxide While Vacationing in Mexico

An Illinois mom and her two teen sons are dead after they were believed to have been exposed to carbon monoxide while vacationing in Mexico.

On July 2, Brenda Correa, 41, and her children, Leo, 15, and Armando, 13, were killed when the toxic gas entered a house they were staying in during a trip to Mexico, ABC affiliate WLS and the Daily Herald reported. 

Brenda was a staff member of Community Consolidated School District 62’s Westerhold Early Learning Center, and the boys attended Algonquin Middle School in Des Plaines. The school district confirmed to PEOPLE that the mom and two boys died while visiting the country. 

“Mrs. Correa was a valued member of our ELC learning community. We are devastated by this loss as well as the loss of her children,” Dr. Michael Amadei, Superintendent of Schools, wrote in a letter shared with families affiliated with the learning center on July 2. “Due to the fact that this tragedy occurred out of the country, we are not aware of all the details including services but will do our best to communicate updates as they are shared with us.”

The superintendent extended his condolences to Brenda’s surviving husband and daughter.

Milena Mroczek, Brenda’s sister-in-law, told the Daily Herald that the three family members were staying at a family home in Michoacán, a state in west-central Mexico.

When there was no response following multiple phone calls, an uncle stopped by and discovered that the boys had died near their beds. Their mom was found in the shower, the paper reported. The other people living in the house weren’t there at the time, while Brenda’s husband, Armando Correa Sr., and daughter, Brittany, hadn’t traveled with them, according to the Daily Herald.

Mroczek and state officials and the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública de Michoacán did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment. 

After Mroczek found out her family members died, she sought help on social media.

“With hope and resilience, I seek a helping hand, friends,” she wrote on Facebook. “But tragedy has struck our family once again.”

Initially, the family launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help bring the victims home, but in an updated post, Mroczek wrote that the trio would be buried in Mexico because of the ongoing investigation.

Now, the funds would be used to cover funeral costs, she said. Mroczek organized a “memorial mass” for Saturday, July 12, according to a recent Facebook post. 

Meanwhile, in a separate Facebook post, a woman grieved the loss of her friend, Brenda.

“This is a devastating loss to our community, she was the kindest and sweetest person you could ever know,” the woman wrote. “Love you Brenda, rest in peace with your beautiful boys.”