Ohio Toddler Found Frozen To Death On Front Porch, Neighbors Had Been Concerned About The Family For A While

An Ohio toddler was found frozen to death on her front porch late last week, at least the second person in Ohio to die this winter from being out in the cold.

As KRON-TV (San Francisco) reports, an Akron, Ohio woman called 911 early Friday morning to report that she had found her 2-year-old daughter frozen to death on her front porch. The 911 operator attempted to instruct the woman in giving the child rescue breaths, telling the caller in exacting detail how to position the child’s head in an attempt to force air into her lungs. An ambulance arrived and took the young girl to an area hospital, but it was too late; the young girl later died at the hospital.

Authorities say the temperatures in Akron that night dropped to between 12 and 19 degrees.

Unfortunately, this is at least the second time this winter that someone in Ohio has frozen to death while just a few feet from help.

As the Akron Beacon Journal reported back on January 4, a 64-year-old shut-in named Darnell Wilson was found on his partially-enclosed porch, having frozen to death. It was not clear how long he had been there when he was found by his meal-delivery driver, Sara Henson.

“I was kind of nervous walking onto the porch because I just knew something was wrong.”

Sadly, Darnell was just a few feet away from safety, but never made it.

Similarly, a 7-year-old boy froze to death in England back in December 2017, according to the Metro. Hakeem Hussain was allegedly left out on his doorstep in Birmingham by his caregivers, both of whom were later arrested on child-abuse and child-neglect charges.

Back in Akron, Crystal Lucas, a neighbor of the young girl who froze to death, said that she’s been concerned about the child and her family for some time. She said that she believed that the mother had two children, the 2-year-old girl and a boy, whose age she did not attempt to specify. She also said that she frequently heard arguing coming from outside the apartment. Further, she says she had seen the children left alone, outside the apartment, even having taken them to her own home for their safety. And, she says, when she heard police knocking at her door on Friday, she feared the worst.

“It was freezing and that was my biggest worry when the cops came, when they started asking about the kids, they didn’t divulge what was really going on, but when he asked about the kids, obviously something was going on and I was worried.”

Akron toddler who died outside in cold identified https://t.co/dzOuDDq1DW

— fox8news (@fox8news) February 5, 2018

On Tuesday morning, police identified the toddler as 2-year-old Wynter Parker, according to WJW-TV (Cleveland). Police will not announce what charges, if any, the mother will face until after an autopsy is complete.