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Buffalo police confirm body found on Lilac Street identified as 74-year-old Ana Rodriguez

“A Buffalo Police Department drone spotted what was believed to be a body in the yard and officers went in and confirmed a body had been located.”
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Posted at 5:56 PM, Jan 11, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-12 15:17:07-05

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A body was discovered while searching for a missing woman Tuesday, Buffalo police confirmed Wednesday the body has been identified as 74-year-old Ana Rodriguez. Police said Erie County medical examiners ruled the cause of death as hypothermia.

“A Buffalo Police Department drone spotted what was believed to be a body in the yard, and officers went in and confirmed a body had been located,” Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said Tuesday.

Police say the grandmother was last seen in the area of the family dollar store in the 1900 block of South Park Avenue Monday.

“The individual was suffering from some medical conditions,” police said. “Suffering from dementia which obviously escalated the level of the search and how we handle the search.”

Buffalo police and other multiple agencies searched all night into the morning to search for Rodriguez.

“The cold and her medical condition certainly heighten the search that we did, and obviously, the medical examiner has to respond to the scene to make the ultimate determination to determine what the cause of death was,” police said Tuesday.

If you have a loved one living with dementia, click here to find resources that can help.