A top leader in the Washington area's Mormon community has died following carbon monoxide exposure.
News outlets report the president of the Washington, D.C. stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 61-year-old James Richard Baird, died Thursday. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer said three people who'd been found at a Bethesda-area home with elevated levels of carbon monoxide were hospitalized Wednesday.
Baird's second-in-command, Nathan Sheets, tells WTOP-FM Baird moved to the area a decade ago and climbed the regional ranks. A stake is a unit consisting of smaller congregations. Baird's stake oversaw nine wards and two branches in Maryland and D.C.
The LDS church's Annapolis stake said on Facebook that Baird's wife has recovered fully. The status of the third person is unknown.
