A Maine State Police officer enters the recycling facility Sept. 21 on River Road in Lewiston. Human remains were found at the facility and this week New Hampshire officials issued a cause of death for one of two people found at separate Cassella facilities. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file

CONCORD N.H. — A couple who were found dead in separate waste facilities were intoxicated by drugs and had sought shelter during a rainstorm in a large trash bin that was loaded into a compacting waste removal vehicle, the Office of the Attorney General of New Hampshire said Friday.

Jessica Lurvey, 28, and Matthew Schofield, 29, who were in a relationship, went into the bin on the night of Sept. 8, the attorney general’s office said in a news release.

Lurvey was eventually found dead at a waste transfer station in Belmont, New Hampshire, the next day. Schofield was found dead about two weeks later at the Casella waste facility in Lewiston.

Lurvey’s body was discovered during the waste sorting process in Belmont. She was crushed by the trash compactor while intoxicated by fentanyl, according to Mitchell Weinberg, deputy medical examiner. Her manner of death was accidental.

Schofield’s body was not found at the Belmont facility, but was further transferred with waste products to the facility in Maine. His death also has been ruled accidental. The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Maine said his cause of death is undetermined, either acute intoxication by more than one drug, or crush injuries.