A 22-year-old woman was found dead over the holiday weekend in Buffalo following she was trapped in her car by the crippling blizzard in western New York, her family told CNN on Tuesday.
Anndel Taylor, who had moved to Buffalo, New York, from Charlotte, North Carolina, was on her way home from work at a senior center and was only a six-minute drive from her home when she is found stranded, said relatives who live in Charlotte. and who became frantic when they lost contact with her.
Tomeshia Brown, one of Taylor’s older sisters, told CNN that Taylor sent a video to a group chat with her sisters around 3 p.m. Friday. In the video, Taylor captured the snowy and whiteout conditions. She told her sisters who live in North Carolina that she was stuck and the snow was still falling, Brown said.
Taylor called 911 and was waiting for first responders, said Brown and Wanda Brown Steele – Taylor’s mother.
“Her plan was to wait for the police to arrive,” her sister said, but if that failed she planned to “get up and walk around once her car ran out of gas.” She also said she planned to fall asleep and then try to walk home when she woke up if help didn’t arrive.
Her family said they stayed in touch with Taylor throughout the day. At one point, Taylor texted one of her other sisters separately to say she was starting to freak out, Brown added.
In the very early hours of Christmas Eve, Taylor was sending her last video message to the group chat. In the video, Taylor opens the driver’s side window of her car, revealing a road turned into a barren desert by snow. A van on the road, which appears to be stuck, can be seen flashing its hazard lights. Taylor wrote in the group chat that she thinks the snow will probably be up to her waist if she gets out of her car.
Later that morning, around 9 a.m. on Christmas Eve, family members in North Carolina called her and sent her several messages. “We texted him in the band asking, ‘Are you okay?'” Brown said. The family was alarmed when Taylor was unresponsive.
“Maybe two hours later my sister tracked her phone,” Brown said. “She [Taylor] had to share his position with my sister. And it showed that she was still outside.”
The family alerted Taylor’s relatives in Buffalo to the address, but once they arrived they said they saw Brown’s car, but did not see her inside.
“So I put the information on a private Facebook page called Buffalo Blizzard 2022 and asked for help,” Brown said. She posted the address of the tracked phone and later that evening she received a phone call from an anonymous man. “He let us know that he checked his pulse and there was no pulse,” Brown said.
“I really mightn’t believe it,” she said. “It was like a piercing sensation in my stomach, a pain I had never felt before.”
Taylor’s mother, Brown Steele, said she was “in shock”.
It wasn’t until the next day that Taylor’s body was removed from the car, Brown said, following a woman posted a message on Facebook to let Brown know she had also located the car – and the her sister’s body.
The woman told Charlotte’s family that she would not leave until someone came to pick her up.
With emergency personnel unable to reach the car, the woman waited for Taylor’s relatives who live in Buffalo to arrive. They all helped move Taylor’s body into another vehicle, where she was taken to hospital, Brown said.
After leaving several voicemails over the holiday weekend, Charlotte’s family heard from authorities on Monday evening. They were calling to let them know they were ready to go rescue Taylor, Brown said. The Brown family informed them that Taylor’s body had already been taken to the hospital the day before.
“I want to understand why the city hasn’t been able to help,” Brown Steele said.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz told Poppy Harlow on ‘CNN This Morning’ on Monday that two-thirds of the equipment that was sent to help clear snow during the height of the storm got stuck. .
Poloncarz added that a Buffalo Fire Department historian said it was the first time in the agency’s history that personnel might not respond to emergency calls because the severity of the conditions made it impossible. not allow. .
Erie County officials said Tuesday the county has restored its emergency response service, but they are still pleading with residents to abide by Buffalo’s travel ban and stay off the roads.
CNN has contacted the Buffalo Police Department for more details.
As of Tuesday evening, Taylor’s family in Charlotte had not yet learned the official cause of Taylor’s death, Brown said.
Taylor was described by her sister as “a caring, caring person. She hustled a lot, she cared regarding a lot of people,” her sister said.
“If she might help, she would help you,” her mother said. “She had a lot of friends here in Charlotte – a lot of people cared regarding her.”
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles released a statement offering his deepest condolences to Taylor’s family and friends.
“Anndel was taken from this world far too soon, and words cannot begin to express the grief and pain her loved ones feel during this difficult time,” Lyles’ statement read. “It was a devastating storm that brought terrible tragedy, and our community here in Charlotte mourns with their family.”
His family set up a GoFundMe campaign to pay for his funeral.
Taylor would have turned 23 next month, Brown said.
