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Elderly Woman Found Dead In Madison, Wis. Cold

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Police in Barron are investigating the death of an elderly woman who apparently left her assisted living facility and died in the cold.

Police Chief Byron Miller said in a statement dispatchers received a call about 4:45 a.m. Wednesday from Monroe Manor, an assisted living facility, reporting 76-year-old Juanita Toews had left the building. Emergency responders determined Toews had climbed out her living room window.

Searchers followed her tracks and found her lying on an iced-over creek about around 6:15 a.m. She was pronounced dead about 45 minutes later at a Barron hospital.

Police suspect Toews died of hypothermia. Miller said she wasn't wearing any cold weather clothing.

According The National Weather Service, the temperature was 24 degrees below zero in the Barron area at 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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