Two women were found dead Monday in their home in Lindstrom, Minn., likely the victims of carbon-monoxide poisoning.

The Lakes Area Police Department was called to make a welfare check on one of the women, who hadn't been heard from since Thursday. When officers arrived, they found a 53-year-old woman and a 56-year-old woman dead inside the house on the 13100 block of Sylvan Avenue.

Officers discovered that the furnace had stopped and that the house was filled with extreme levels of carbon monoxide. Lindstrom firefighters and Xcel Energy employees were called and the home was ventilated. A furnace exhaust pipe appeared to be plugged with soot and ice, police said.

The women's names are being withheld until relatives are notified; the cause of their deaths is being investigated.

One officer was treated and released from Fairview Lakes Hospital.

Mary Lynn Smith