A man whom authorities believe succumbed to the bitter cold in St. Paul Wednesday has been identified as Cornell Vinson, 70, of Arkansas.
Vinson, who was in town visiting relatives, was found about 11:15 a.m. leaning over the trunk of his car at Grotto Street and St. Anthony Avenue.
Paramedics took the barely conscious man to Regions Hospital, where he died about two hours later.
Don Gorrie, a spokesman for the Ramsey County medical examiner's office, said that it appeared that Vinson died of hypothermia, but that other tests were pending. Despite initial signs that Vinson may have been living out of the car, the victim's family said he was not homeless and was in St. Paul for a visit, Gorrie said.
The temperature in St. Paul was about -5 degrees at the time he was found, according to the National Weather Service.
Vinson's death came a day after a North End neighborhood resident was found dead outside his W. Rose Avenue home. William Romell, 77, died of hypothermia, Gorrie said.
Friends last saw Romell early Monday evening, when the temperature was about 14 degrees in St. Paul. About 9:20 a.m. Tuesday, when Romell's body was found near his front door by a neighbor, the temperature had dropped to about -14 degrees.
ANTHONY LONETREE
