| Updated: 9/12/2012 5:12 pm |
Published: 9/12/2012 10:56 am
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A woman found stuck inside a freezer may have been there for days.
Theresa Christian is a former East Central teacher. A family member found her around ten Wednesday morning in her apartment near West 23rd Street and Southwest Boulevard.
Family members tell FOX23 she may have climbed inside the chest-type deep freezer to stay safe from this weekend’s storms. Police aren’t sure just how long she was inside.
“Saturday, she came out saying that there was a tornado coming or something. She's on a lot of medication and was probably over-medicated and climbed into the freezer,” says her son, William Andy Jr.
William had not heard from his sister in several days. Desperate for answers, he went to her apartment on Tuesday to try and find her.
"I immediately went over to the office and got security, and came back and they let us in the house to look for her and we didn't see her,” he says.
On Wednesday morning, the family went back over to look again.
"Her son heard a moan coming from the area of the freezer and opened it up and discovered her sitting inside and apparently had been there for a couple of days,” says Tulsa Police Cpl. Daisy Vallely.
Theresa was unable to tell them exactly what happened or how she got inside the freezer. Her brother was just thankful she was still breathing.
"She was alive thank God,” he says.
Officers say she tried desperately to get out, but couldn’t.
"The freezer is torn up and all of the insulation is out of it,” says William.
Her family believes she may have climbed inside the freezer to get away from the weekend storms, and somehow got trapped inside. Neighbors say they heard knocking coming from her apartment, but when they went over to check on her, she never came to the door.
"It's very frightening. My heart is still beating fast and I might have to go get checked out myself,” says William.
Neighbors describe her as pale and shaking with severe frostbite on the lower half of her body. As last check, she was in serious condition at St. John Medical Center.
Officers say at one point, it appeared that she had tried to climb out, but couldn’t because her legs were frozen.
