Cook County records seventh weather-related death as cold snap eases; cold deaths suspected in collar counties
Two new cold weather deaths have brought the total number of confirmed or suspected Cook County weather deaths to seven since a snowstorm and frigid temperatures swept through the Midwest, officials said Wednesday.
Officials in Will and Lake counties had also reported at least three possible weather-related deaths in the same period.
Police said Vanda Parish, 66, of the North Center neighborhood, was found unresponsive outside her home Tuesday morning and pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. An autopsy found that Parish died of injuries related to a fall down the stairs and hypothermia.
Thomas Kapala, 62, of the Mount Greenwood neighborhood, died Monday night of heart disease, diabetes and cold exposure, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Police said that Kapala was initially found unresponsive in his garage.
Authorities suspect that weather played a contributing factor to five other deaths since Jan. 11.
Richard Kellinger, 73, of Streamwood, died Jan. 12 of heart disease and complications of hypothermia.
Robert Tuxford, 62, of Oak Lawn, died Jan. 12 of heart disease. Officials listed probable cold exposure as a secondary cause of Tuxford’s death.
James Jernigan, 81, of South Shore, died Friday of heart disease, but the medical examiner also named cold exposure as a possible factor in his death.
John Dryglaski, 86, of Elmwood Park, died Monday of heart disease and environmental cold exposure, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Autopsies determined that all seven deaths were accidental.
Andrew Siemionko, 60, was the first to die of cold exposure this year at his Schiller Park home on Jan. 11, just before the cold snap. Neighbors reported that Siemionko did not have heat or electric in his home where he was found after not answering messages or his door for some time. The medical examiner also found Siemionko’s death to be accidental.
In Will County, the coroner’s office reported two potential weather-related deaths during the same period: Todd Tschiggfrie, 44, of Park Forest, was found in a driveway in Tinley Park on Jan. 12. An initial report from the coroner said Tschiggfrie was outside after shoveling snow.
Another man, Craig Buckley, 59, of Bolingbrook, was found outside his home Tuesday and pronounced dead, according to a statement posted to the coroner’s social media. Autopsies had been performed on both men, and Tinley Park and Bolingbrook police are investigating the respective deaths, the coroner said.
Lake County officials in northern Illinois reported one possible cold-related death since Jan. 11: Luule Eilau, 92, was found lying outside on Jan. 15, according to a coroner’s chief deputy. Preliminary autopsy results showed that Eilau, a resident of unincorporated Lake Bluff, likely died of cardiac issues but also showed evidence of cold exposure.
In DuPage County, Coroner Richard Jorgensen declined to comment on any weather deaths Thursday, saying forensic pathologists had yet to complete their reports on recent local deaths.
The cold began to ease its grip on Chicago and suburbs Wednesday, when O’Hare international Airport recorded a high temperature of 19 degrees and a low of minus 7 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service’s high temperature forecast through Sunday ranged between 20 and 13 degrees, with lows dipping to minus 4 degrees overnight Saturday.
