Man found dead in Roseland is season’s 1st cold death

A man found dead last weekend in the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood is the first reported cold weather-related death of the 2018-2019 season, the Cook County medical examiner’s office announced Monday.

Officers responded about 6:20 a.m. Saturday when 52-year-old Gerald Williams was found unresponsive in a “closed porch or hallway” in the 500 block of South 107th Street, according to Chicago police and the medical examiner’s office. Williams, who lived in the block, was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy Sunday found he died from a pulmonary embolism with cold exposure as a contributing factor and his death was ruled an accident, authorities said.

The county reported at least 31 cold-related deaths during the 2017-2018 season.