Friday, 19 Apr 2024

Teen girl wearing pajamas 'freezes to death after driving into a ditch'

A teenage girl who went for a night drive wearing pajama pants and a sweatshirt is believed to have crashed into a ditch and found frozen to death.

Daniela Itzel Velazquez, 17, was last seen on Saturday night in her hometown of Wrightstown, Wisconsin, according to WECT. Her mother reported her missing on Sunday afternoon after her car was discovered abandoned in a ditch on Blake Road.

Velazquez’s phone was found outside the car and her wallet and keys were found inside it.

Temperatures had dropped to about 12 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills about 4 degrees below zero, WLUK reported. It was snowing, which covered up footprints on the road.

Officers on Tuesday found a body in a rural area near Day Street about a quarter mile from where the car was left, that they believe belongs to Velazquez. The identification is pending an autopsy, but authorities suspect that Velazquez died of hypothermia.

‘She was definitely not dressed for the weather,’ said Brown County Sheriff’s Office Captain David Potea. ‘And being outside in conditions much like they are today for any extended period of time is going to result in fatality in a short period of time.’

Potea added that Velazquez ‘was just driving around, which was basically what she told her mother before she left, “I’m going for a drive.”‘

‘It’s hard to know what her thought process was,’ he said.

Foul play is not suspected in her death. There were no signs that another person was in the car with Velasquez.

The vehicle may have hit the ditch sometime between 3am and 6am on Sunday, according to detectives.

‘At this time, our sincere sympathy goes out to the family, Daniela’s friends,’ Potea said. ‘It’s a hard time for them, and they do ask for privacy during this time.’

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