Girl Dies After Snow Fort Collapses On Her in Arlington Heights

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — A twelve-year-old girl died and another girl was injured after a snow fort they built outside an Arlington Heights church collapsed on them and buried them in the snow. They had slipped outside to play while their parents attended services at Rothem Church on East College Drive, police said.

The girl and her companion, 9, built the fort on a snowbank nearby the church, Arlington Heights police said in a statement. Their parents found them about an hour later trapped underneath the snow, the Sun-Times reported. The 12-year-old was pronounced dead at 4:30 p.m.

According to police, the nine-year-old was treated for hypothermia at Northwest Community Hospital and remains there for observation.

The names of the children have not been released.

No foul play is suspected, police added.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office is expected to conduct an autopsy Monday, ABC news reported.

In 2003, a 12-year-old Joliet boy died after he tunneled through a snowbank and it collapsed on him. The boy, Ryan Simpson, was discovered trapped in the snow outside a church after he didn't return home for dinner. He had been playing in a large pile of snow created after snowplows cleared the church parking lot. Authorities said he was likely unable to escape due to the sheer weight of the snow.

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