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Subscribe to RSSAn Oklahoma woman was found alive in her deep freezer days after she was reported missing. Family members say she may have been disoriented and attempted to take shelter, KJRH's Breanne Palmerini reports.
Updated at 7:10 p.m. ET: A woman who vanished last weekend was found alive in a freezer in west Tulsa, Okla., after possibly climbing inside to take shelter from a storm, NBC station KJRH reported.
Theresa Christian, 59, disappeared Saturday and was discovered Wednesday with severe freezing of the legs, KJRH said. She was listed in serious condition, KJRH reported.
Her son told the station he is relieved she was found alive.
"She wasn't answering the phone or anything like that, so I came by here (Tuesday) night, about 10:30, knocked on the door, knocked on the door, and I couldn't get a response or anything," Christian's son, Jermal Stewart, told KJRH.
Tuesday, Christian's brother, William Andy Jr., entered the apartment near W. 23rd Ave. and Southwest Blvd. and did not find her.
Theresa Christian
"We went through the house calling out her name and stuff and couldn't get a response or anything," Andy told KJRH.
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Stewart went back to the apartment early Wednesday and had the apartment's maintenance crew unlock the door again.
"I heard her say, 'Help me, help me,'" Stewart said.
Stewart told KJRH he opened a closet door in the kitchen and saw his mother sitting in the freezer with the lid open, unable to move.
Family members say she may have been disoriented. “My mom takes a lot of medications, and it mixes with her system and it don't give her an appetite at all," Stewart told KJRH.
Police told reporters they suspect Christian crawled into the freezer to take shelter.
There was no severe weather in the area on Saturday, KJRH reported.
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"Possibly she thought maybe there was a tornado coming, but they're not really sure why or how she got there," Tulsa police Cpl. Daisy Vallely told KJRH.
No foul play is suspected, KJRH reported.
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