Greeneville police say they think an elderly Brentwood Drive man died in his home Friday from accidental exposure to carbon monoxide.

Detective Capt. Terry Webb said Elmer S. Moss Jr., 82, of Brentwood Drive, was found dead in his bedroom one floor above a basement garage in which an automobile's engine was running.

Webb said police believe Moss accidentally left his car's engine running in a basement garage after he returned home on Thursday night and was overcome by carbon monoxide during the night.

Moss' bedroom was located directly above the garage, according to Capt. Webb.

As of Friday afternoon, Webb said, police had not been able to establish exactly when Moss had returned home on Thursday.

A neighbor, who had a key to the Moss residence, discovered the house filled with exhaust fumes and the car still running in the basement garage when he went to check on Moss shortly after 9 a.m. Friday, Webb said.

The neighbor had gone to the Moss residence after Moss's wife, who had been in a local hospital, was unable to reach her husband by telephone on Friday morning, Capt. Webb explained.

He noted that Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services personnel, who had responded to the house, turned off the car's engine when they arrived on the scene.

Greeneville Fire Department firefighters used large exhaust fans to remove automobile exhaust fumes from the house, according to Webb.

"I have no doubt in my mind that he was overcome by carbon monoxide," Capt. Webb said on Friday afternoon. "It was hard to stay inside the house [because of the exhaust fumes] even with fire department fans running inside it."

Capt. Webb said no autopsy was ordered.