TRAFALGAR, Ind. — A Johnson County woman is dead after wandering outside her Trafalgar home in the cold Thursday morning.
Investigators can't say how long 85-year-old Rose Outcalt was outside before neighbors who live two blocks away found her in their driveway on South Pleasant Street.
"It was just immediate action. It was, like, we have to figure out what's going on here," said Damien Lutz, who explained he didn't know the woman, who he and his wife found near their garage door as they headed out to work around 7 a.m. Jan. 18.
All they knew was that there was probably nothing they could do to help her at that point.
"You wouldn't be able to survive very long in this kind of weather," said Lutz, referencing the bitter cold temperatures and wind.
Investigators couldn't say why Outcalt left her home, but say when they found her, she was barefoot and only had on a nightgown.
At that point, emergency crews had no way of knowing who she was or why she was outside.
"Basically, went to the hospital with this person, and they were able to read the pacemaker and find out the name of the person, and the coroner's office made notification," Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess explained, saying what happened to Outcalt was tragic.
Burgess couldn't say why Outcalt wandered away from her home, outside in the cold, but advised people with older family members who might be prone to wandering off to look into a program called Project Lifesaver through their local fire department.
The program outfits a person with a bracelet that gives off a constant signal, which is monitored by fire departments who take part in the program.
"They can track those individuals," Burgess said.
Johnson County has six fire departments in the program. One of them is in Trafalgar. It doesn't cost anything to be a part of the program.
"You can get them signed up, they can get the bracelets. It looks like a watch," Burgess said.
Lutz wonders if he'd had outside cameras, if that would have helped him and his wife find Outcalt sooner.
"If we'd seen motion or something, maybe she could still be alive," said Lutz, who doesn't know Outcalt's family but wants them to know how sorry he is about what happened.
"I hope they're dealing with this as best they can, that's all you can wish for. It's just an unfortunate situation," Lutz said.
Investigators say they don't believe foul play was involved but have figured out that exposure to the cold contributed to Outcalt's death.