Woman in Buffalo found dead in her car after getting trapped by snow, family says - CNN

CNN  — 

A 22-year-old pistillate was recovered dormant implicit the vacation play successful Buffalo aft being trapped successful her car by the blizzard paralyzing occidental New York, her household told CNN connected Tuesday.

Anndel Taylor, who had moved to Buffalo, New York, from Charlotte, North Carolina, was driving location from enactment astatine a elder national halfway and was lone six minutes distant by car from her location erstwhile she became stranded, said relatives who unrecorded successful Charlotte and who became frantic erstwhile they mislaid interaction with her.

Tomeshia Brown, 1 of Taylor’s older sisters, told CNN that Taylor sent a video to a radical chat with her sisters astatine astir 3 p.m. connected Friday. In the video, Taylor captured the snowfall and whiteout conditions. She told her sisters who unrecorded successful North Carolina that she was stuck and the snowfall kept falling, Brown said.

Taylor called 911 and was waiting for archetypal responders, Brown and Wanda Brown Steele – Taylor’s parent – told CNN.

“Her program was to hold until the constabulary got there,” her sister said, but if that failed, she planned to “get up and locomotion erstwhile her car ran retired of gas.” She besides said she planned to spell to slumber and past effort to locomotion location erstwhile she woke up if assistance did not arrive.

Her household said they kept successful interaction with Taylor arsenic the time dragged on. At 1 point, Taylor texted 1 of her different sisters separately to accidental that she was starting to panic, Brown added.

In the precise aboriginal hours of Christmas Eve, Taylor would nonstop her past video connection to the radical chat. In the video, Taylor cracks unfastened the driver’s broadside model of her car, revealing a roadworthy turned into a barren wasteland by the snow. A van down the road, which appears to beryllium stuck, tin beryllium seen flashing its hazard lights. Taylor wrote successful the radical chat that she thought the snowfall would astir apt beryllium up to her waist if she got retired of her car.

Later that morning, astatine astir 9 a.m. connected Christmas Eve, members of her household successful North Carolina called and sent her aggregate messages. “We texted her successful the radical to ask, ‘Are you OK?’” Brown said. The household was alarmed erstwhile Taylor was not responding.

“Maybe 2 hours later, my sister tracked her phone,” Brown said. “She [Taylor] must’ve shared her determination with my sister. And it showed that she was inactive outside.”

The household alerted Taylor’s relatives successful Buffalo to the address, but erstwhile they arrived, they said they saw Brown’s car, but did not spot her inside.

“So I enactment the info connected a backstage Facebook leafage called Buffalo Blizzard 2022 and asked for help,” Brown said. She posted the code of the tracked telephone and aboriginal that evening, she got a telephone telephone from an unnamed man. “He fto america cognize helium checked her pulse and determination was nary pulse,” Brown said.

“I truly didn’t judge it,” she said. “It was similar a piercing feeling successful my stomach, a symptom I’ve ne'er felt before.”

Taylor’s mother, Brown Steele, told CNN she was successful “shock.”

It would not beryllium until the adjacent time that Taylor’s assemblage was removed from the car, Brown said, aft a pistillate sent a connection connected Facebook to fto Brown cognize that she had besides located the car – and her sister’s body.

The pistillate told the household successful Charlotte that she would not permission until idiosyncratic came to prime her up.

With exigency unit incapable to scope the car, the pistillate waited until Taylor’s relatives who unrecorded successful Buffalo arrived. They each helped determination Taylor’s assemblage into different vehicle, wherever she was taken to the hospital, Brown said.

After leaving aggregate voicemail messages done the people of the vacation weekend, the household successful Charlotte heard backmost from authorities connected Monday evening. They were calling to fto them cognize they were acceptable to spell to rescue Taylor, Brown said. The Brown household informed them that Taylor’s assemblage had already been transported to the infirmary the time before.

“I privation to get to the bottommost of wherefore the metropolis was incapable to help,” Brown Steele told CNN.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz told CNN’s Poppy Harlow connected “CNN This Morning” connected Monday that two-thirds of the instrumentality that was dispatched to assistance wide snowfall during the tallness of the tempest got stuck.

Poloncarz added that a historiographer with the Buffalo Fire Department said this was the archetypal clip successful the agency’s past that unit could not respond to exigency calls due to the fact that the severity of the conditions wouldn’t let it. .

Erie County officials said connected Tuesday that the region had restored its exigency effect service, but they were inactive begging residents to abide by Buffalo’s question prohibition and enactment disconnected the roads.

CNN has contacted the Buffalo Police Department for further details.

As of Tuesday evening, Taylor’s household successful Charlotte has yet to larn the authoritative origin of Taylor’s death, Brown said.

Taylor was described by her sister arsenic “a caring and nurturing person. She hustled a lot, she cared astir a batch of people,” her sister said.

“If she could help, she would assistance you,” her parent said. “She had a batch of friends present successful Charlotte – a batch of radical cared astir her.”

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles released a connection offering her deepest condolences to Taylor’s household and friends.

“Anndel was taken from this satellite acold excessively soon, and words cannot statesman to explicit the heartache and symptom her loved ones consciousness during this hard time,” Lyles’ connection reads. “This was a devastating tempest that brought tremendous tragedy, and our assemblage present successful Charlotte mourns with her family.”

Her household acceptable up a GoFundMe run to wage for her ceremonial services.

Taylor would person turned 23 adjacent month, Brown said.