Renton Father, Daughters Died Of Starvation: Medical Examiner

RENTON, WA — The King County Medical Examiner's Office has concluded its investigation into the deaths of a Renton father and his two teenage daughters last December after completing a full toxicological analysis.

According to police, a building manager found three bodies inside a North Renton apartment on December 11. The Seattle Times reported last year that two of the people who died were teen sisters, identified by their mother as Adriana Gil, 17, and Mariel Gil, 16. The body of their father, identified as Manuel Gil, 33, was found in an upstairs bedroom.

The property owner who discovered the bodies told the newspaper neighbors had not seen any activity at the apartment in more than a week. The Times reported the girls' mother had called the police the night before for a welfare check at the address, but an officer did not notice anything unusual.

At the time, police said there was no obvious cause of death and said closing the case would require a full investigation by the medical examiner. In a news release Thursday, the Renton Police Department said the investigation found all three were emaciated when they died. Investigators said there was no food in the home and detectives found "written materials about fasting."

"With no competing pathological or toxicological causes found, the cause of death for all three has been ruled as protein and calorie deprivation (aka: starvation)," officials wrote Tuesday. "Due to the timing of the deaths, father Manuel Gil’s death was ruled a suicide. With no way to determine what the two girls’ state of mind and intent was, the manner of their death has formally been pronounced as undetermined by the Medical Examiner’s Office."

Detectives are asking anyone with specific information that could shed more light on the tragic case to e-mail them.