PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria Police were called Tuesday morning to a home in the 500 block of E. Melbourne Avenue on a welfare check.
Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said a neighbor called police after she hadn’t seen 80-year-old Joyce Hexdall for approximately three weeks.
Upon arrival, officers made entry into Hexdall’s home, and found her body in the kitchen. Hexdall was pronounced dead by the coroner at 10:15 a.m.
Hexdall’s home had no operating furnace or heat source.
“The home inside was extremely cold. And, we could tell by the examination of her body that she had been laying in the cold for at least a few days,” Harwood said.
The examination of Hexdall’s body showed significant signs of frostbite and cold exposure, but no signs of struggle or trauma. Cause of death was due to significant cold exposure.
Harwood reminds the public to check on the elderly and neighbors frequently during the winter months, for their safety and wellbeing.
“Especially if they’re a lower social-economic income. That maybe they’re using something different to heat their house with, or something like that,” Harwood said.
