Campus Alert Archive
DU

The Death That Put CO Detectors in Every DU Dorm Room: Lauren Johnson and the Josephine Street Apartment Tragedy

COhazmatadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On January 5, 2009, Lauren Johnson, a 23-year-old first-year graduate student at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at her off-campus apartment at 2035 S. Josephine Street, just east of the DU campus. Carbon monoxide from a furnace whose flue had been recently wind-damaged backed up into third-floor units; Johnson was found at approximately 4:50 PM and pronounced dead at 5:17 PM at Porter Adventist Hospital. In her memory, DU subsequently installed carbon monoxide detectors in every campus sleeping room, and a nonprofit 'Lauren Project' was founded to distribute CO detectors for Colorado homes.

Alerts
1
Response
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Killed
1
Injured
1
Institution
University of Denver
Private R1 · CO
DU Alerts
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstruction511 chars
The University of Denver community mourns the loss of Lauren Johnson, a first-year graduate student in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, who died on January 5, 2009, from carbon monoxide poisoning at her off-campus apartment at 2035 S. Josephine Street. The Denver Fire Department responded to the scene at approximately 4:50 PM. We extend our deepest sympathies to Lauren's family and to all who knew her. Campus resources for grief support are available through Health and Counseling Services.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The University of Denver notified the campus community of Lauren Johnson's death; the wording is reconstructed from the DU Magazine account and is marked unconfirmed as no verbatim notification text is in the public record.
Johnson was found by Denver Fire Department personnel who were called at approximately 4:50 PM; she was pronounced dead at 5:17 PM at Porter Adventist Hospital.
Another person was also hospitalized from the same building, though that individual survived; the gas had leaked from a furnace flue that had been recently repaired after wind damage and was not properly sealed, allowing carbon monoxide to back up into the third-floor units.
Context

Background

Lauren Johnson was a 23-year-old graduate student from Vancouver, Washington, enrolled in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. On January 5, 2009, the Denver Fire Department was called to the Josephine Place apartment building at 2035 S. Josephine Street, just east of the DU campus. Johnson was found with carbon monoxide at lethal levels inside her apartment and was pronounced dead at 5:17 PM at Porter Adventist Hospital. The gas had come from a furnace whose flue had recently been repaired following wind damage; the repair allowed gas to back up into the third-floor units. A second person in the building was also hospitalized and survived. In the aftermath, the University of Denver installed carbon monoxide alarms in all sleeping rooms on the DU campus -- a direct institutional safety response to Johnson's death. Friends and colleagues founded the Lauren Project, a nonprofit organization providing grants to young people for international mission work and distributing CO detectors to Colorado homes. The 2012 Nelson Hall CO incident at DU, in which students were evacuated but suffered no serious harm, was cited by campus officials as an example of the new detector infrastructure working as intended -- a contrast made meaningful only by the 2009 tragedy that prompted it.
Analysis

Key Findings

Lauren Johnson, a 23-year-old DU graduate student, died of carbon monoxide poisoning on January 5, 2009, at an off-campus apartment just east of the DU campus.
The cause was a recently repaired furnace flue that was improperly sealed, allowing CO to back up into third-floor apartment units; a second occupant was hospitalized but survived.
DU's direct institutional response was to install carbon monoxide detectors in all campus sleeping rooms -- a change made in the aftermath of Johnson's death that subsequently prevented harm in a 2012 campus CO incident.
The Lauren Project, founded in Johnson's memory, has since distributed CO detectors to Colorado homes and provides grants for international mission work.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Student dies at off-campus apartment - University of Denver Magazine Archive
    magazine-archive.du.edu
  2. Official
    Project honors DU student killed after carbon monoxide poisoning - University of Denver Magazine Archive
    magazine-archive.du.edu
Tags
hazmatcarbon-monoxidecoloradodenveroff-campusstudent-deathprivate-r1advisorygraduate-studentfurnacepolicy-change
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion