FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WKRN) – A photographer in Williamson County was taking photos last Friday when he made a startling discovery: an elderly woman frozen to the ground.

Keith Sheldon noticed an abandoned car stuck in the ice off Daniel McMahon Lane in Franklin and started snapping photos.

He said he wanted photographs of the snow before everything melted away when he saw the car.

The woman was found off Daniel McMahon Lane near Franklin Road.
“I was going to come over here and get a picture of the car and the license plate just for the church to have in case they had any questions,” he told News 2.

It was that moment when he noticed something unusual through his lens: an elderly woman lying on the ground.

“She was lying right there against that dirt bank and she blended in, had a brown coat on and it looked just like the dirt,” Sheldon explained.

It was around 8 a.m. and the temperature was only around 12 degrees.

“I was here at the car, and I was yelling at her, ‘Hello? Can you hear me?’ and I got no response,” the photographer told News 2.

Sheldon said the woman was lying on her side in fetal position with her hands tucked into her sweater. She was also was covering the bottom of her face, signs he said told him she was very cold.

The woman, 74-year-old Patricia, whose last name won’t be released, was alive but disoriented, refusing his help.

Sheldon immediately called 911 and stayed with the woman until paramedics arrived 10 minutes later.

“She was frozen to the ground,” he said. “Whenever we lifted her up, she was frozen to the ground.

Franklin police told News 2 Patricia, whose last name wasn’t immediately known, was transported to a nearby hospital and treated for hypothermia.

Her family told News 2 Patricia, who suffers from a brain dysfunction, had been missing for two days.

The family said they are more than grateful that Sheldon found their loved one.