Associated Press
MORRISON, Ill. — Authorities say a woman appears to have died of hypothermia after being released from a jail in northwestern Illinois.
Sauk Valley media reports that the woman’s body was found around 3 p.m. Tuesday in a wooded area near the Whiteside County Jail.
Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi says the woman had been released about 30 hours earlier, after serving 10 days for contempt of court in a trespassing case. A snowstorm was moving through the area at the time.
Wilhelmi says it’s unclear if the woman called anyone for a ride.
Jamie Richards of Lyndon told the newspaper that the woman was his mother, 65-year-old Janet Sims of Rock Falls. Richards says his mother suffered from bipolar and schizoaffective disorders and had been in and out of hospitals and the jail.