EMMONS, Manitoba – Investigators with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are theorizing that the family of four who froze to death while trying to secretly walk into the United States during a blizzard were already waiting near their pick-up point. It was about 9:30 p.m. when the family and other Indian citizens arrived to begin a short night-trek across the border. In all, it’s believed 11 Indians — but perhaps 17 or 18 — had gathered at the pre-arranged point just inside the Canadian border. In other words, it was an organized illegal crossing – just walk across the border to a waiting van on the Minnesota side. If not for the blizzard, they might have made it. But they stumbled in white-out conditions at minus-35 degrees and became disconnected. Most of the group had been issued identical cold weather clothing by smugglers on the Canadian side. They had new winter coats with fur-trimmed hoods, gloves, ski masks and insulated rubber boots, all of it black. None knew the featureless remote route. Seven made it across the border, where U.S. agents came across them the next day after more than 11 hours of walking. The family of four never make it out of Canada. They were found frozen to death within an hour of their compatriots being saved and being hospitalized. Of the survivors, one stopped breathing several times as she was transported to a hospital. Court documents said she would require partial amputation of her hand. A man was also hospitalized for frostbite and later released to authorities.
