PRINCESS ANNE, Md. (AP) — A divorced father and the seven children he was trying to raise on a kitchen worker's salary were poisoned in their sleep by carbon monoxide only days after the power company discovered a stolen meter and cut off electricity to their rental home, police said Tuesday. 
 
 Onlookers gather outside of a house, where police say seven children and one adult have been found dead Monday, April 6, 2015, in Princess Anne, Md. Police were sent to the home Monday after being contacted... (Associated Press) 
 
 Sheets are held as a body is removed from a residence where police say seven children and one adult have been found dead Monday, April 6, 2015, in Princess Anne, Md. Officers were sent to the home Monday... (Associated Press) 
 
 Onlookers gather outside of a house, where police say seven children and one adult have been found dead Monday, April 6, 2015, in Princess Anne, Md. Police were sent to the home Monday after being contacted... (Associated Press) 
 
 Onlookers gather outside of a house, where police say seven children and one adult have been found dead Monday, April 6, 2015, in Princess Anne, Md. Officers were sent to the home Monday after being contacted... (Associated Press) 
 
 A woman looks away as bodies are removed from a house, where police say seven children and one adult have been found dead Monday, April 6, 2015, in Princess Anne, Md. Police were sent to the home Monday... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police Chief Scott Keller speaks about a home where police say seven children and one adult have been found dead Monday, April 6, 2015, in Princess Anne, Md. Police were sent to the home Monday after... (Associated Press) 
 
 Lloyd Edwards, left, and Bonnie Edwards, the stepfather and mother of Rodney Todd stand outside the home where Todd and his seven children found dead Monday, April 6, 2015, in Princess Anne, Md. Police... (Associated Press) 
 
 Delmarva Power said it did not cut off the family's electricity because they were behind on their bills, but for safety reasons after discovering the illegal connection March 25. 
 
 Rodney Todd, 36, then bought a gas-powered generator and installed it in his kitchen to keep his two sons and five daughters warm. Friends and relatives last saw them alive March 28. 
 
 "The children were all in beds, and it appears as though they were sleeping," Princess Anne police Chief Scott Keller said. "Probably it was bedtime and they decided they needed some light and probably some heat, because toward the end of March even though it was spring we were having some pretty chilly nights." 
 
 Police found their bodies Monday inside the one-story wood-frame home on Maryland's Eastern Shore after school workers, friends and Todd's co-workers knocked on the door with no answer. 
 
 "I'm just numb. Like it's a nightmare but it's not," the children's mother, Tyisha Luneice Chambers, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "If I had known he was without electricity, I would have helped." 
 
 Why Todd had a generator running indoors wasn't clear. The chief ruled out foul play and speculated that had it been outside, the noise would have bothered neighbors. 
 
 Matt Likovich, a spokesman for Delmarva Power, said Tuesday that the utility was not contacted to have power restored in the home after the illegal meter was removed. "We had no record of who was living there," Likovich said. "There was no way to determine what their situation was." 
 
 Likovich said customers are encouraged to contact the utility if they are having difficulty paying their bill. He says there are options for such customers, including partnerships with social service agencies. But, he said, the customers "have to contact us." 
 
 The police chief said the utility has been subpoenaed to document exactly what it did when. Maryland's Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, also is investigating. 
 
 Maryland regulations allow utility companies to terminate service without notice if the utility finds a condition on the customer's premise is hazardous or the customer has tampered with the utility's equipment. 
 
 Sen. James Mathias Jr., a Democrat who represents Princess Anne, addressed Maryland's Senate on Tuesday, asking his fellow lawmakers to work with agencies and neighborhood groups to make certain the eight deaths were not in vain. 
 
 Although Todd got some welfare money, it wasn't enough to pay the bills, his close friend Sarah Hardy said Tuesday morning. 
 
 "How can a man survive off of basically minimum wage with seven kids, and you can't help him with a utility bill?" Hardy asked. "This man was working. And Delmarva Power cuts the lights off?" 
 
 Later Tuesday, the utility revealed that the rental home never had legal power while the Todds lived there. The utility said the electricity had been disconnected in October, and there was no request to reconnect it after the family moved there in November. 
 
 "Through the use of smart meter technology, Delmarva Power discovered a stolen electric meter was being used at the home on March 25, 2015. Delmarva Power disconnected the illegally connected meter for safety reasons and to comply with standard protocol. Delmarva Power did not disconnect electric service at this address for nonpayment," its statement said. 
 
 Bonnie Edwards said her grandsons, Cameron and ZhiHeem, were 13 and 7, and her granddaughters, Tyjuziana, Tykeria, Tynijuzia, TyNiah and Tybreyia, were 15, 12, 10, 9 and 6, respectively. Todd did all he could to stretch his money for their care, she said. 
 
 "There was nothing he wouldn't do for them," Edwards said. "All he was trying to do was to keep his kids warm." 
 
 A co-worker at the nearby University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Brittney Hudson, said Todd "was always smiling and laughing." 
 
 "He's the man you need to know and the man you want to be," said Bilel Smith, who lives nearby. "They were their own football team, their own basketball team. This is breaking our hearts." 
 
 Todd retained full custody when their divorce was finalized last September, and his ex-wife said he never harmed the children. But Chambers said he was physically abusive to her and stabbed her in the face before serving 16 months in prison for assaulting her. 
 
 Chambers also said she had been the primary breadwinner when they were together and kept paying child support until losing track of them in Todd's last move. 
 
 "I was working 12-16 hours as a manager at McDonald's, the overnight shift. He was home cooking and cleaning, and I was the working mom," she said. 
 
 But Hardy said there is more to that story. 
 
 "She abandoned him and the family," Hardy said. "He took his seven kids and her son and raised them on his own." 
 
 Todd had received assistance with utility bills in the past but did not apply for help this year, said Tom VanLandingham, who directs the Office of Home Energy Programs in Somerset County. Families can apply once a year, and assistance is based on household income and energy use, among other factors. 
 
 "We're all kind of baffled as to why he did not apply this year. ... That's the million-dollar question," VanLandingham said before the utility's announcement. 
 
 Todd's children had big personalities. 
 
 The youngest, Tybreyia, "was the bashful type," Hardy said, "but she was really loving." Cameron, who Hardy nicknamed "Pun," was a "quiet and reserved, but he was a Casanova." The older girls loved it when Todd styled their hair —a skill he almost mastered. 
 
 "They took care of each other," and they helped their dad, too, she said. 
 
 "Even the little one," Hardy said, referring to 7-year-old ZhiHeem, "I'd see him with a little broom and dustpan." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press Writers Amanda Myers and Sarah Brumfield in Washington, D.C., contributed. ||||| Rodney Todd cared for his seven children, running their Princess Anne household, preparing meals and then working in dining services at a nearby college. For his five daughters, "he did their hair," said Lloyd Edwards, Todd's stepfather. 
 
 All of them — Todd, 36, and his children ages 6 to 15 — were found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in their modest, one-story, yellow-siding home on Antioch Avenue on Monday. Police said Tuesday that they died in bed and a power generator with an empty gas tank was found inside the house. 
 
 "It appears as though they were sleeping," Princess Anne police Chief Scott Keller said. "Probably it was bedtime and they decided they needed some light and probably some heat. ... Even though it was spring we were having some pretty chilly nights." 
 
 Edwards said Todd had a generator because the electricity had been shut off at the home. 
 
 Delmarva Power said the home had been without service since March 25, when workers discovered a stolen electric meter and shut off power for "safety reasons." The utility originally disconnected power there in October, before the Todds began renting the home, and Delmarva said no request had been made to reconnect service. 
 
 Shock and disbelief in a small Eastern Shore community. Carbon monoxide claims the lives of a father and his seven children--all found dead inside their home. (WJZ Video) Shock and disbelief in a small Eastern Shore community. Carbon monoxide claims the lives of a father and his seven children--all found dead inside their home. (WJZ Video) SEE MORE VIDEOS 
 
 The police chief said the utility has been subpoenaed to document what happened. Maryland's Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, also is investigating. 
 
 State law prohibits utilities from cutting electrical service for nonpayment of bills from Nov. 1 through March 31, without an affidavit filed to the Public Service Commission. Utilities can terminate service without notice if it finds hazardous conditions or the customer had tampered with equipment. 
 
 Edwards, who was called on to identify the bodies of his seven grandchildren and his stepson, described Todd as "a magnificent father." 
 
 I'm just numb...Like it's a nightmare but it's not. — Tyisha Luneice Chambers, the children's mother 
 
 "His main job was taking care of his seven children," Edwards said. But "he never complained." 
 
 The children's mother, Tyisha Luneice Chambers, told the Associated Press on Tuesday: "If I had known he was without electricity, I would have helped." 
 
 "I'm just numb," she said. "Like it's a nightmare but it's not." 
 
 Chambers said she had been the primary breadwinner when they were together and continued to pay child support until losing track of them in Todd's last move. She said Todd was physically abusive to her. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in 2011. 
 
 Todd's mother and Edwards' wife, Bonnie, identified her grandsons as Cameron and Zhiheem, who were 13 and 7, and her granddaughters, Tyjuziana, Tykeria, Tynijuzia, Tyniah and Tyberyia, who were 15, 12, 10, 9 and 6, respectively. 
 
 Another son of Todd's, Rodney Jr., was not living at the home. 
 
 Bonnie Edwards said she spent every birthday with her son and his children. The two eldest, Tyjuziana and Cameron, watched over their younger siblings as their father worked to put food on the table, she said. The younger ones loved to joke around, ride bikes, play basketball at the playground near their home and challenge each other to dance games on a Nintendo Wii they owned. They all exemplified the best qualities of their father and proudly looked up to him, their grandmother said. For his part, "He knew their likes, dislikes and attitudes," she said. "He knew them from the inside out." 
 
 Todd and the children were discovered after he didn't show up for work for days. His supervisor at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore grew concerned and called police. According to police, she had not seen Todd since March 28. 
 
 Stephanie Wells, the supervisor, joined a number of people who came to the home Tuesday to pay respects. 
 
 "He was private. He was the type of person — he didn't ask people for help," said Wells, 49. "He was just low-key. Took care of his kids." 
 
 Sarah Hardy, 29, and Angela Collins, 38, friends of Todd's, sat outside the home Monday night and all day Tuesday. They couldn't believe he and his family were no longer inside. 
 
 "We're waiting for our brother to come out that door," Hardy said. 
 
 Hardy said she had grown close to Todd after the two were introduced by her child's father. "Our bond grew strong, strong, strong," she said. "He didn't want to call me his friend; he wanted to call me his sister." 
 
 When Hardy heard he had died, "I just rushed down here," she said, adding that she couldn't believe it when she saw the bodies being carried out. "I think they're just ghosts they brought out of the house. I'm still thinking they're in there and they just are quiet and don't want anyone to realize." 
 
 Public safety and health officials say the deaths are another tragic reminder of preventable deaths caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. 
 
 Last year Maryland counted 17 carbon monoxide poisoning-related deaths, 12 of which were suicides, four of which were accidental, and one undetermined, according to the state medical examiner's office. 
 
 A statewide law requires hard-wired carbon monoxide detectors in new dwellings built after Jan. 1, 2008. Officials recommend homeowners install operating alarms outside sleeping areas, as well as one on each level. 
 
 Despite awareness of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, "there is absolutely still work to be done," said Clifford S. Mitchell, director of the environmental health bureau with the state health department. "You end up with a situation where you unfortunately have to warn people every time." 
 
 Mitchell said the challenge is ensuring that people heed the warnings even in "stressful situations" — such as being homeless or without power for a prolonged period after a storm. 
 
 Mitchell said generators should not be used inside the home, and should be kept at least 15 feet from the building. "Even if a generator is outside, if it's close to the house, you have the potential for carbon monoxide entering," he said. 
 
 Dr. Kinjal Sethuraman, a physician at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said generators are a common cause of carbon monoxide toxicity. 
 
 Carbon monoxide poisoning patients are often sent to Shock Trauma because it has a hyperbaric chamber, which is used to treat patients by administering oxygen at higher pressure. 
 
 Last year, the hospital treated 55 patients from Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Virginia with the hyperbaric chamber — compared with 95 patients in 2013 and 65 in 2012, Sethuraman said. She said those figures do not include milder cases in which physicians didn't have to use hyperbaric treatment. 
 
 Carbon monoxide is odorless, colorless, and the symptoms are "nonspecific," Mitchell said.
– The utility that cut off power to a Maryland home days before Rodney Todd and his seven children were found dead says it didn't cut him off for not paying bills—because it never sent him any. Delmarva Power says it shut off power to the rented home in October; Todd moved there in November and it says there was no request to have it reconnected. The utility says it cut off electricity for safety reasons when workers discovered a stolen meter on March 25, reports the Baltimore Sun, which notes that state law makes it difficult for utilities to cut off service for unpaid bills between Nov. 1 and March 31, but service can be cut off without notice in the case of hazardous conditions or illegal connections. Police believe Todd, 36, and the children were poisoned by carbon monoxide from a generator. "It appears as though they were sleeping," Princess Anne Police Chief Scott Keller tells the AP. "Probably it was bedtime and they decided they needed some light and probably some heat. Even though it was spring, we were having some pretty chilly nights." Todd was a kitchen worker at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, where his supervisor tells the Sun he was a private man who didn't ask for help. "He was just low-key. Took care of his kids," she says. "I'm just numb. Like it's a nightmare, but it's not," the children's mother, whose divorce from Todd was finalized last fall, tells the AP. "If I had known he was without electricity, I would have helped." She says she paid child support until she lost track of the family when Todd last moved.