Syracuse University graduate, family all found dead after suspected Christmas Day carbon monoxide leak

Wakefield, N.H. — A 2024 Syracuse University graduate and three family members died of a suspected carbon monoxide leak on Christmas Day in their vacation home in New Hampshire, police said.

The family was spending the Christmas holidays at a home they owned in Wakefield, New Hampshire, authorities told the Associated Press. The family is from Newton, Massachusetts, a city eight miles west of Boston.

The four who died are Matthew Goldstein, 52, a school teacher, and his wife, Lyla Goldstein, 54, who was a project manager at Microsoft, and their daughters, Valerie, 22, the SU graduate, and Violet, 19, a first year student at the Rhode Island School of Design.

The family was discovered dead when they did not arrive to a holiday event and extended family called police, according to the report. High amounts of carbon monoxide were found in the home and Matthew Goldstein’s autopsy revealed his cause of death to be carbon monoxide poisoning, authorities said.

Investigators told the AP they haven’t yet figured out what caused the apparent leak of carbon monoxide from the propane gas heating system. There were no carbon monoxide detectors in the home, authorities said.

Valerie Goldstein graduated this year from Syracuse University, according to her LinkedIn profile. She majored in policy studies. According to a profile by the school, she graduated early and was “excited to put my Syracuse education into practice, advancing educational equity at the ground level.”

She was in her first year of Teach for America in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, according to her profile.

While at SU, she studied abroad in England and Italy and assisted a professor with writing a book, according to the school.

While at Syracuse she interned with Blueprint 15 to create a business page highlighting minority-owned businesses, she wrote. She also worked as a research consultant for ARC of Onondaga. She also was a Girl Scout camp counselor.

A city counselor for the city of Newton, Massachusetts, posted a tribute to Valerie Goldstein on Facebook.

“I remember that Valerie would write in to the City Council about her passion for a more sustainable world and a just society as soon as she was old enough to vote, and she asked me to help her with a class project on local environmental policy,” wrote Councilor Bill Humphrey.

Staff writer Rylee Kirk covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, photo, question or comment? Reach her at 315-396-5961, on Twitter @kirk_rylee, or rkirk@syracuse.com.