KY couple without electricity after ice, snow storm apparently froze to death
A couple found dead in Laurel County Sunday apparently froze to death, Sheriff John Root said in a news release.
Autopsies conducted Monday on James Duff, 62, and his wife Dinah Duff, 63, of Laurel County determined their apparent cause of death as hypothermia, according to the release.
A person who knew the couple found them Sunday about 10:30 a.m. and called police. Officers from the sheriff’s office responded.
James Duff was lying in the yard of his home on Pine Hill — Brock Road, about five miles east of London. Dinah Duff was inside the house, according to a news release.
The house had no electricity for some period before the couple was found because of damage to power lines from ice and snow that hit the area earlier in the week, said Deputy Gilbert Acciardo, spokesman for Root’s office.
Tens of thousands of people in Kentucky lost power recently after trees and limbs weighted by ice fell and knocked down lines.
The power was still out at midday Saturday, Acciardo said.
It appeared the couple had used wood to build a fire inside the house to try to keep warm, Acciardo said.
Property records show the house has a fireplace but no supplemental heat source.
Root’s office is continuing to investigate the deaths.
