(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – A man died of cold exposure Thursday in suburban Schiller Park, the year’s first cold-related death as the area endures a winter storm ahead of colder temperatures next week.
The 60-year-old man, who has been identified as Andy Siemionko, died about 1 p.m. in the 4600 block of Wesley Terrace, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Autopsy results released Friday said he died of environmental cold exposure, and his death was ruled an accident, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Siemionko was a veteran, neighbors said.
The neighbors told CBS 2 he was living in a home on the 4600 block of Wesley Terrace without electricity.
He had no heat and they were unaware of that until they talked to the police.
They had last seen him on New Year's Eve and had been calling and knocking on the door. The neighbors called police for a well-being check and his body was discovered after that.
It was the first cold exposure death of the year in Cook County, but not the first of this cold weather season. A 74-year-old woman died Dec. 4 on Chicago’s Lower West Side of cold exposure and hypothermia, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Following a few inches of snow earlier in the week, temperatures were in the low 30's Thursday before a stronger storm brought several inches of snow to the Chicago area Friday.
Meteorologists expect brutally cold weather to hit the area this weekend and last until the middle of next week. The highs Monday and Tuesday are expected to be in the single digits, with wind chills reaching as low as minus 20 degrees.
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