William Westhoven

@WWesthoven

PARSIPPANY – Township police announced Tuesday that a Vernon man was found dead in a car parked at the Wawa gas station on New Road.

The cause of death was determined to be accidental due to carbon monoxide from a propane camping lantern that was left on inside the vehicle's passenger compartment, according to a police report.

An investigation conducted by the department's Investigative Division found no suspicious activity, according to Public Information Officer Remo D'Alessandro.

Township patrol officers responded to the scene at 5:18 p.m. Sunday following a report from the Vernon Police Department that a missing person may have been in the area. With a description of the missing person's vehicle, Patrol Officer Robert Appel located the vehicle in the WaWa parking lot at 350 New Road.

READ MORE: Police ID man found dead at Parsippany Wawa

According to Appel, the sole occupant of the vehicle was in the driver's seat of the parked car with blankets on top of him. After several unsuccessful attempts to awake the victim, Appel smashed the rear window to gain entry and evaluated the victim, who appeared to be deceased.

Paramedics and the Parsippany-Troy Hills Volunteer Ambulance squad responded, while Detective Edward Conklin of the department's Investigative Division responded to conduct the investigation. They were joined by the Morris County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigative Division and the Morris County Medical Examiner.

The victim, whose name was not released, was identified as a 24 year old male from Vernon.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com.