Olivia Benito, 66, stopped at her neighbor's house for a nightcap Saturday night, and in the morning Benito was found dead, facedown and covered in snow. Police believe she froze to death just steps from her home.
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According to NJ.com, the Lakewood, N.J., resident had had a few drinks during the day and a few more while at her neighbor's house. Al Della Fave, of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, told the newspaper that Benito left her neighbor's house around midnight and was found around 7 a.m. the next day when the same neighbor she had been drinking with walked outside to clear snow from her car.
The neighbor called 911 and tried to revive her friend, but ambulance personnel pronounced her dead at the scene.
The newspaper notes that Benito's home was just two doors away from her neighbor's. Benito's husband, Louis, told police that he thought his wife had decided to stay at their neighbor's when it got late and temperatures dropped to just 10 degrees, NJ.com reports.
"We found no outward signs of trauma or any signs of foul play at this time," Della Fave told the newspaper, but added that the death was still under investigation.
A source close to the investigation told NJ.com that it appeared that Benito fell and froze to death, but added that a cause of death had not been determined.
Read more at NJ.com.
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