UPDATE: Jan. 29 at 6 p.m.
On Tuesday morning, a 62-year-old man was found dead inside of his camper near Bend of the Lakes Rd. in Pulaski County.
According to Pulaski County Coroner Clyde Strunk, James L. Phillips was in his residence, which was without power.
“It was nine degrees outside that morning, and it was nine degrees on the inside of his residence that morning,” said Strunk. “There were some soda pops there on the floor which were frozen solid, and we quickly observed and realized that he too was frozen.”
“We're confident that this was a weather related death because of the temperature inside the dwelling was the same as what was outside the dwelling.”
The investigation began after someone called in a wellness check for Phillips. Downed trees and power lines delayed crews on their way.
“We had to do a staging area at a local church, a small church in the community, because there were trees across the road,” Strunk added. “There were wire lines that were broken down.”
This is why officials keep asking to check on your neighbors. In Pulaski County on Thursday afternoon, under 1,700 people are still without power, with many of those being in some of the more rural areas. That is an area of concern.
“I do believe when we get into some of our more rural areas of our county, and we began to do welfare checks, we possibly could find some more of these that did not heed the warning of going to a warming center,” Strunk said. “It’s very possible that we could have others.”
Original Story:
Pulaski County Coroner Clyde Strunk reported that James L. Phillips was found dead in his camper trailer in the Bend of the Lakes Shore area on Tuesday morning. Phillips had reportedly lost electricity during the winter storm when ice brought down tree limbs on power lines in the area.
Phillips lived in a remote location, and crews had to remove downed trees to reach his camper trailer. The coroner said the temperature was nine degrees inside Phillips trailer when he was located and he believes Phillips froze to death.
The winter storm caused widespread power outages across the region as ice accumulated on power lines and tree branches.
According to a Pulaski County Government Facebook post, there are still over 2,000 without power as of Wednesday night.
