“He was 36 and his son was old enough to earn money to buy him a generator?”
This stepson did not live there.
“Lloyd Edwards told The Associated Press that his stepson, 36-year-old Rodney Todd, had bought the generator after the power was shut off to the home in Princess Anne, about 60 miles southeast of Annapolis on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He said those who died were Todd and Todd’s two sons and five daughters.”
Maybe you should read the story.
Maybe you should. The story says Rodney Todd, who was the stepson, and the stepson's brood died, yet you said "the son bought him the generator." Does not compute.