16 cold-related deaths reported so far this winter in Cook County

A south suburban man who died last month was found to have frozen to death, bringing Cook County’s number of cold-related deaths this season to 16.

Edgar Anderson, 57, was found unresponsive about 6:50 a.m. Dec. 7 in the 16300 block of Marshfield Avenue in Markham, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Anderson, who lived in the same block, was taken to Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, where he died at 8:24 a.m. that day, the medical examiner’s office said.

An autopsy did not immediately rule on his cause and manner of death, but investigators later determined that he died of hypothermia because of cold exposure with ethanolism as a contributing factor, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Fifteen other cold-related deaths have been recorded in Cook County since Oct. 23, 2017, including a woman found dead Wednesday morning in the South Shore neighborhood, according to records maintained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Last winter, at least 27 cold-related deaths were reported, according to authorities. The first cold-related death of the 2016-2017 season was reported Oct. 22, 2016.