Boy in Texas Saw Snow for the First Time, Died the Next Day

Family suspects Honduras native Cristian Pavon died of hypothermia in bed
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 19, 2021 9:42 AM CST
Boy in Texas Saw Snow for the First Time, Died the Next Day
Cristian Pavon experiences his first snowfall.   (GoFundMe)

An 11-year-old boy from Honduras asked his mother to film him playing in the first snow he'd ever seen in Conroe, Texas, on Monday. It would be the last footage of him alive. Cristian Pavon's family lost power to their mobile home on Sunday night, but Cristian never complained of cold, mother Maria Elisa Pineda tells Univision, per the Washington Post. He played in the snow in "a red winter jacket with a hoodie" for roughly a half-hour Monday then returned to his unheated home. "He had dinner, he played, and he went to bed," says Pineda. It was then so cold in the home that Pineda was shivering, Cristian's aunt, Jaliza Yera, tells KTRK. But Cristian seemed fine, nuzzled under blankets with his 3-year-old stepbrother. Both were still breathing when Cristian's stepfather checked on them in the middle of the night, Yera adds. That wasn't the case the next day.

By afternoon, Cristian—who came to Texas in 2019—appeared to still be sleeping, no big concern as he liked to sleep in. But by 2:30pm, the family realized he was unresponsive. "He was already dead," Pineda tells the Houston Chronicle, which notes Cristian's stepbrother was fine. Cristian is now among the youngest of at least 47 people to have died in the cold weather, per the Post. The family suspects hypothermia as he had no underlying health conditions. "He was not at all sick," says Pineda. "He was a normal, healthy child," adds Conroe Police Sgt. Jeff Smith, per the Chronicle, noting an autopsy was performed Thursday. The family is now raising money to send Cristian's body to Honduras, where his grandparents live. Yera notes "he always told [Pineda] that he was going to see his grandparents [again] one day." (More child death stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X