A single father and his seven children were found dead in their Maryland home on Monday, apparently poisoned by a gas generator left running indoors, CBS News reports.

Police say they discovered the bodies after a coworker reported Rodney Todd of Princess Anne, Maryland missing, having not seen him in over a week. From The Baltimore Sun:

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 told the Sun. "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."

On Tuesday, a utility company spokesperson told NBC News that a stolen electric meter had been disconnected from the family's address late last month.

"It's so hard. How can you understand something like this?" Todd's stepfather, Lloyd Edwards, told the Associated Press. "He was an outstanding dad. ... To keep his seven children warm, he bought a generator, and the carbon monoxide consumed them."

[Image via AP News]