Elderly Arizona couple found buried in snow after their car got stuck and they froze while trying to get help
ASH FORK, ARIZONA: An Arizona elderly couple died after they got stuck in the snow and likely succumbed to hypothermia.
Richard Alexander, 74, and Elizabeth Alexander, 79, were found buried in the snow on Friday, December 6, off Crookton Road along Old Route 66 outside Ash Fork, a small village of just 396 people in Yavapai County, Arizona, according to ABC15.
The tragic discovery was made by Mike and Diane Haas as they were heading out of their home that afternoon. They noticed two people in their yard and went to check up on them, but quickly realized the situation was dire.
"I said 'Sir, sir!' And of course they didn’t respond," Mike said. "It became pretty obvious, pretty quick (from) their skin color and other details that they were deceased. So we immediately called 911 and made sure not to touch anything."
In a press release, the Yavapai County Sheriff's office said their detectives and an investigator from the Yavapai County Medical Examiner's Office had examined the scene, and that preliminary findings showed there was no evidence of foul play. They said it was strongly suspected they had died from exposure to the environment.
Detectives said they lived close by and that their car was found just one mile away from where their bodies were discovered. They suspect the vehicle got stuck in the heavy snow that came down over the Thanksgiving weekend, and the couple tried to make their way to Haas.
Mike said they might have tried to get to his home because his front porch light was probably the only thing they could see. "Eventually, they decided to leave their vehicle," he said. "They were headed to our house we believe. But 100 yards short."
He said Richard's body was found on top of his wife's, which meant he had died trying to keep her warm.
"If they hadn’t left their car, I really believe somebody would’ve checked on them," Diane said. "People drove by them but everybody assumed this was somebody who got their car stuck, they called and got rescued. Nobody would’ve ever thought that they were out here struggling."