Final Moments: Woman Dies Stuck in Snow
Published Date: 12/29/2022
Source: WTVR CBS 6
The National Guard is going door to door in parts of Buffalo and its suburbs to check on people who lost power during western New York's deadliest winter storm in decades. Authorities are facing the tragic possibility of finding more victims amid melting snow as a deep freeze eases into milder weather. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz says officials fear they may find people who died alone or are ailing. Officials say more than three dozen people so far are reported to have died because of the blizzard that raged Friday and Saturday. Among them, Anndel Taylor. Her family says the 22-year-old got stuck in the storm while on her way home from work on Friday. She sent them this video of the snow piling up around her car. "She called the police. They said they were on their way," sister Tomeshia Brown said. " I think about four hours have passed and I'm like, they still haven't came yet. And she's like, no." Taylor was found dead in her car a few hours later. Carolyn Eubanks, who relied on an oxygen machine, collapsed after losing electricity at her Buffalo home during a time when emergency workers were unable to respond to calls, son Antwaine Parker told The Buffalo News. “She’s like, ‘I can’t go no further.’ I’m begging her, ‘Mom, just stand up.’ She fell in my arms and never spoke another word,” Parker told the newspaper. Parker and his stepbrother knocked on nearby doors, seeking help. They found it when a stranger, David Purdy, answered and helped them carry the 63-year-old Eubanks inside and try in vain to revive her. Purdy and his fiancee sheltered her body until first responders arrived the next day. “I done it as respectful as I could,” Purdy told The Buffalo News. Timothy Murphy, 27, died after snow covered a furnace and sent carbon monoxide into his Lockport home, the Niagara County sheriff’s office said. Monique Alexander, 52, was found buried in snow after going out in the storm for unclear reasons, her daughter told The Buffalo News. The AP and CBS News contributed to this report.