Anndel Taylor, 22, was found dead this Christmas weekend during an historic snowstorm that struck the Buffalo area and paralyzed upstate New York in the United States. According to information from CNN, the young woman sent a video to a group with her sisters last Friday (December 23) before she died.
Born in North Carolina, Taylor would have her sisters with her for vacations. In the video shared with the family, she revealed that she was trapped in the blizzard and that the snow continued to fall.
Anndel was driving home from work at a nursing home when her car got stuck in snow six minutes from home. The young woman called 911 and waited for rescuers.
“Her plan was to wait for the police to arrive,” Sister Tomeshia Brown said. If the ambulance didn’t arrive in time, “she would get out of the car and walk as she ran out of fuel.” Anndel’s intention was to sleep in the car and wait for help, and if nothing happened, try to walk home.
The family told the report that Taylor sent a message to one of the sisters saying she was panicking after being trapped in the car for hours and had no information on rescuers. Family members believe she was trapped in the car for 18 hours before she died.
Early on December 24, Christmas Eve, Anndel sent the final video message in the group with the sisters. In the pictures, the young woman opens the driver’s window and shows the road flooded by the snowstorm. A van also appears with its hazard lights on, which also appears to be trapped. The young woman told her family that by the time she got out of the car, the snow would likely be waist deep.
Taylor was found dead by Buffalo residents after the family shared the location on a Facebook group called Buffalo Blizzard 2022 to ask for help.
“I could not believe it. It was like a punch in the pit of my stomach, an ache I’ve never felt before,” said Taylor’s mother, Wanda Brown Steele.
Taylor is one of at least 27 people in Buffalo who died as a result of the storm. At least 50 people died across the country.
On Monday (12/26) Mark Poloncarz, an Erie County, New York official, reported that some people died because first responders experienced stormrelated delays in trying to reach those trapped in the bitter cold.