Texas Heat Wave: Air Conditioning Theft Leads to Elderly Woman's Death
A 79-year-old woman has died of heat exhaustion just two days after she had reported to police that her $2,500 air conditioning machine had been stolen from the back of her house.
The woman, Dolores Grissom died of heat exhaustion in her home in Oak Cliff, Texas on July 16.
Grissom's air conditioning units had been stolen three separate times in the past and this particular time she and her son were stuck enduring the hottest month ever recorded in the history of Texas.
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Grissom's neighbor Caroline Ware offered to have the elderly woman stay over, however Grissom refused the offer, preferring to stay in her own home.
Grissom's neighbor, Jesse Terrell, argues that theft of air conditioners are common in the neighborhood and says, "You don't have to walk inside pawn shops to ask 'em if they have them. You drive by it and they're sitting right up front; central air conditioning units and window units."
Dallas police have refused to comment on the theft of the air conditioning unit.
However, last April, a church in the area also faced a theft of air conditioners when 6 were stolen from the church grounds.
Dallas has been hit hard in the heat wave with 34 consecutive days of temperatures scorching above 100 degrees.
With Grissom's death, the death toll in Dallas from the heat wave is up to 13. Other death cases are under investigation.
This weekend most of Texas will see no signs of relief from the enduring heat wave that has engulfed the state and caused dozens of deaths.
Texas has seen extreme weather this past year with the state already suffering from a drought and having faced ice storms this past February that crippled dozens of power plants.
The National Weather Service has also placed heat advisories across 13 other U.S. states including Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Arkansas.
