A 22-year-old woman who died in her car in the Buffalo Blizzard stayed in touch with her siblings in a family group chat for eight hours before telling them she would try to get some sleep and “go for a morning walk” when if she hadn’t done it wouldn’t have been saved.
Anndel Taylor has repeatedly reassured her family that help is on the way after their vehicle became stranded in the snow on the way home from work on Friday afternoon.
The student nurse sent videos to the group chat notifying her of the amount of snow building up outside her window and expressing frustration at the emergency services who kept her on hold for long periods of time.
Her body was found at 9pm on Christmas Eve, after her regular contact with her family had ceased, but she was not removed from her car until 7pm on Christmas Day.
The historic ‘Snowstorm of the Century’ has claimed at least 65 lives and the aftermath has been likened to a war zone, with responders still searching for bodies in the thick snow.
Anndel Taylor has repeatedly reassured her family that help is on the way after their vehicle became stranded in the snow on the way home from work on Friday afternoon
She sent videos to the group chat notifying her of the amount of snow building up outside her window and expressed her frustration at the emergency services, who continued to reassure her that help was on the way
Ms Taylor’s sister Tomeshia shared the latest text exchange in a touching tribute on TikTok on Tuesday, and also linked to GoFundMe, which is raising money to bring her body home to Charlotte.
“Please keep my girl’s name and take her home to Charlotte. She will never be forgotten,” Tomeshia commented on the video.
The one-minute clip was played 2.9 million times and received 25,600 replies.
“I wish the police had warned them about the exhaust when they called,” one person said.
‘Breaking my literal existence seeing this… This is heartbreaking.’
Another said: “You don’t even know you saved so many people. I never knew not to leave a car in the snow. Thank you for sharing your story.’
Ms Taylor told her family she would consider walking if she had not been rescued by the time she woke
In a family group chat, Ms Taylor told her family members that on the drive home from work she was stuck in the snow and the rain was falling quickly
The first message she sent in the group chat came around 4:15 p.m. Friday afternoon. It was a video accompanied by a message that read, “Stuck in a ***ing blizzard.”
At 6.39pm she wrote: “I’m still here, been here since 3. The car I’m driving, mufflers pretty damn close to the ground, then snow up to the tires… I’m terribly irritated.
The family responded, asking if she was “getting hot,” while one suggested she “just needs to get out.”
A relative joked that it’s the same “weather SpongeBob had to deliver them pizza in,” but urged her to stay safe.
She said: “I’ve been in and out shoveling, just called the fire department and they’re sending a cop over to me. I don’t know how long that gunna is [sic] take.’
Two hours later, a relative got back in touch with Ms Taylor on the group chat, who replied that “unfortunately” she was still stranded and would likely have to spend the night.
On Saturday morning, the family became concerned when they realized they had not heard from Ms Taylor
She told them she has a heater, adding: “It looks like I’ll be sleeping here. I don’t know how long this gas will last. I’m angry, my door is damn close [sic].’
At that moment, her family panicked, wondering if the police had really been “out for two hours.”
‘Can nobody get you?’ asked her sister.
Ms Taylor was told police tried to rescue her but got stuck on the way. At that point, she was again on hold for 22 minutes by authorities.
Her sister said, ‘Unprepared in a known state!’
At 8:59 p.m., she informed her siblings that she was still on hold, waiting to be connected to the fire department.
“Maybe it’s all out, they said they’re sending someone,” she wrote at 9:09 p.m. She said that if no one had come by 11pm, she would consider getting out on her own.
Speaking to , Wanda Brown Steele said her family was “angry” that coroners failed to show up after a Good Samaritan discovered her daughter’s body in her car
Snow-covered vehicles in Buffalo after the winter storm that battered the United States — with western New York City having borne the brunt of the bad weather so far
“I open it every now and then when the wind stops, but right now it was incredibly difficult for me to open it.
At 9:37 p.m., she sent a message that read: “You don’t give a man. I’m talking to them now so I know how to get through the night… If the car keeps running in them in the morning, I’ll walk, snow on my thighs.
“Leave when I wake up,” she wrote at 11:56 p.m. Her family told her to go to sleep and to contact them when she woke up.
She later sent another photo showing the snow had “reached my stomach line.” It was her last message.
At 9am the next day, concerned relatives began posting again in the group chat, urging Anndel to respond.
They asked several times if she was okay, had tried to call her several times and revealed that she had not responded to any of their messages.
The victim sent relatives a video of her trapped in her vehicle while waiting 18 hours for police to arrive. The family soon lost contact with her, sparking a search that eventually found the vehicle a good Samaritan — no city officials
Brown Steele said her daughters, Shawnequa (left) and Tomeshia (right), are angry at the city’s slow response to reports that Ms Taylor was trapped
At 10:30 a.m., they still hadn’t heard anything and concerned family members began making appeals on social media.
Using Track my iPhone, her sister was able to confirm that she hadn’t left her car.
Ms Taylor’s body was found at 9pm on Christmas Eve but she was not removed from her car until 7pm on Christmas Day.
Speaking to , Ms Taylor’s mother Wanda Brown Steele revealed that a random passer-by was the person who ended up transporting her daughter’s body to a coroner.
She said she was “angry” that coroners in New York’s second largest city failed to show up after a Good Samaritan discovered her dead daughter in her car.
“My kids and I are angry,” said a distraught Brown Steele, 53, expressing frustration at officers’ handling of the incident.
‘She’s been in the car too long. From Friday to Christmas.”
A Buffalo resident, Luke Bennett, was seen Tuesday shoveling mountains of snow for his neighbors
Homes on Lake Erie are still covered in snow, but there are concerns a quick melt will cause flooding
Police finally arrived at the scene after receiving the call from the woman who braved the streets in a truck equipped for the winter conditions.
In the time it took police to arrive, Brown Steele said the woman was able to contact her and other family members after hearing about her search on social media.
Eventually, the woman connected via Facetime and told Brown Steele who she was – and updated her on her daughter’s fate. To give the mother some closure, the woman panned the camera to Ms Taylor’s body, which the mother said resembled “an iceberg”.
Her mother said she died from carbon monoxide poisoning rather than hypothermia.
Ms. Taylor, who was born in Buffalo but grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, moved back to New York earlier this year to care for her father.
A fundraiser for Ms Taylor’s funeral has reached $30,000 and is continuing to rise.
Homes along the shores of Lake Erie remain covered in ice after the storm
Pictured: A gas station canopy lies on its side after high winds and heavy snowfall on Lake Shore Boulevard