BELMONT — A local couple whose bodies were found in separate solid waste facilities three months ago climbed into a garbage dumpster to seek shelter from a storm, the state Attorney General’s Office has reported.

The deaths of both Jessica Lurvey, 28, and Matthew Schofield, 29, have been ruled as accidental. However, drug use was a factor, according to a statement released Friday by Attorney General John M. Formella, State Police Col. Nathan Noyes, and Belmont Police Chief Mark Lewandoski.

The statement released to the media by Formella’s office said Lurvey was “intoxicated by fentanyl” and that Schofield’s death either resulted from “crush injuries” or an overdose on a combination of substances.

The investigation concluded that the two had sought shelter from the rain by climbing inside a dumpster.

Lurvey, who listed an address in Gilford at the time of her death, was found dead at the Casella waste transfer station in Belmont on Sept. 9. Her body was discovered when the contents of a disposal truck were being removed and separated.

Lurvey died from “crush injuries,” according to state Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Mitchell Weinberg, who performed the autopsy.

The body of Schofield, of Laconia, was found 12 days later in Lewiston, Maine, at a solid waste facility at which trash would continue on for processing from the facility in Belmont.

The pair were engaged according to family members and Lurvey’s obituary.

According to the Office of Maine’s chief medical examiner, Schofield death was attributed to the “probable combined effects of buprenorphine (a prescription pain reliever), amphetamine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl,” the New Hampshire AG’s Office reported.

“It appears that on the evening of September 8, during a heavy rainstorm, the two sought shelter from the inclement weather in a large trash or recycling bin, which was mechanically picked up by and loaded into a compacting waste-removal vehicle,” according to Formella’s office. “The contents of the vehicle, including the bodies of Ms. Lurvey and Mr. Schofield, were then brought to the waste facility in Belmont. There, Ms. Lurvey’s body was discovered during the waste sorting process. Mr. Schofield’s body was not discovered at the Belmont facility.

“(Rather, it) was further transferred with waste products to the facility in Maine where his body was subsequently discovered,” the statement continued.

“Ms. Lurvey, like Mr. Schofield, was intoxicated by drugs at the time of her death, a circumstance that likely factored into her accidental death,” it concluded.

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