Coroner IDs Dublin School Janitor; Police Await Toxicology Report

DUBLIN, CA — The Coroner's Bureau of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office has identified the janitor found dead Wednesday morning at Fallon Middle School in Dublin.

The body of James Covington, 32, of Pittsburg was discovered around 7 a.m. after Dublin police received word that he and another janitor — his fiancee, as KRON reported — did not return home after their shift at the school at 3601 Kohnen Way Tuesday.

Fentanyl was found at the scene. Police are awaiting toxicology results to determine whether the drug played a role in his death, said Dublin Police Department Capt. Nate Schmidt in an email. Covington's cause of death is pending, according to the coroner's bureau.

Officers found their car parked at the rear of the school and searched the campus until they found them suffering from unknown medical issues in the library.

The pair were carried out to the school courtyard and the Alameda County Fire Department and ambulance crews were called to provide treatment, but the man was pronounced at the scene. His 29-year-old fiancee was found unresponsive and taken to the hospital, where she was recovering as of last week, KRON reported.

Though a chemical smell was detected when officers entered the room, the Alameda County Fire Hazmat Team determined that no chemicals in the school would have caused their injuries, Schmidt said.

The couple shared two children together and had been together for nine years, the station reported.

Read more at KRON.

— Bay City News contributed to this report