A woman was found dead in the snow in front of her Mahwah, New Jersey, home Monday, covered in snow with a shovel in her hand, police say.
A group of middle school students had just gotten off a school bus when they found the body of 64-year-old Mary Wall covered in about a foot and a half of snow in front of her car on Sunnyside Road, shovel in hand.
Thirteen-year-old Amanda Sands said she and her friends first noticed a coat before finding Wall's body.
"Her jacket was white, I remember... and my neighbor moved snow over, and it was her hand," she said.
Shocked, she went to get her mother.
"I was like, 'Oh, my God, Mom, I think we found a dead lady in her yard,'" Sands said.
Neighbor Michael Beman, whose daughter was among the group of teens who found Wall, said the woman lived in her home for years.
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Beman said his daughter was "obviously a little bit shaken, as is the rest of the block. That's not something that you obviously want to come across, especially so close to home."
Another death reported in New York City Monday was believed to be storm-related. Angel Ginel, 44., was found in his car in Sunset Park after his wife called 911 when he didn't return home from shoveling. Police preliminarily believe he died of carbon monoxide poisoning, not unlike the way a New Jersey mother and her toddler died in their car over the weekend.
The death toll from the blizzard in the New York area stands at around 17, and 41 in total.
"It's extremely tragic," said Cindy Doyle of Mahwah. "It's very, very sad."
