A Buffalo grandmother who said she would be right back when she went out during a blizzard in Buffalo was later found dead in the snow… only a few hundred feet from her home. Why did she leave home?
Grandmother steps out during snowstorm, never returns
On Christmas Eve, a grandmother named Monique Alexander, age 52, told her daughter she would be right back, then stepped out the door without saying where she was going.
The woman’s daughter, Casey Maccarone, who lived with her, said she assumed her mother was trying to get to the store before they closed, CNN reported. Her mother left the house around 3 PM.
But with the blizzard bearing down on Buffalo, New York, the grandmother may have been unaware of just how treacherous conditions outdoors had become.
Thirty minutes after Monique left, Casey called her mother but could only hear the wind coming through on the other line. She tried to call back, and this time it went straight to voicemail, she told the New York Times.
A tragic discovery only a few feet away from home
Still not hearing any word from her mother two hours later, Casey posted to a Facebook group to ask if anyone had seen Monique Alexander. About fifteen minutes later, she got a response from a man who described her mother’s coat and blue jeans. He then asked if he could call her.
During a video chat, the man immediately broke down. He said he was stranded and had been walking when he saw Monique lying in the snow. He moved her mother’s body out of the elements.
“He saw my mother in the snow, he picked her up, and placed her under the awning,” Casey told the Buffalo News. “He tried to put her body somewhere where they could find her.”
Later, the National Guard recovered Monique’s body only a few hundred feet away from her home. She was one of 17 victims of the storm who were found outside.
“She’s always felt like superwoman and invincible,” Casey said. “So I’m assuming that she just thought she could handle the conditions.”
“Can’t really tell my mom anything, she’s going to do what she wants to do,” Casey added. “I’m assuming she just thought she was strong enough for it.”
New York death toll rises to 44
As of January 6, 2023, the official death toll from the blizzard in Western New York had reached 44, including a three-year-old girl who died as the result of injuries after drowning in a pool after her family’s home had lost power and they had gone to a hotel, as well as a woman who was found in a tent in Buffalo, WIVB 4 reported.
