Medical Examiner Rules in Cause of Death of Woman, Child Found in Fort Worth Field

Investigators say they now know what killed a young mother and her infant child whose bodies were found naked in a Tarrant County field in January.

The unclothed bodies of 27-year-old Lindsay Groce and her daughter, 13-month-old Hailey Gardner, were found Jan. 13. Clothing belonging to the mother and child was found near their bodies; their crashed sedan was located about 100 yards away, near a grove of trees off Altamesa Boulevard.

At the time, homicide detectives said there were no obvious signs of trauma and that it would be up to the medical examiner to determine their causes of death.

On Thursday, the Tarrant County medical examiner declared both deaths an accident and said the child died of hypothermia and that her mother died of hypothermia with paradoxical undressing.

Hypothermia occurs when the body temperature drops below 95 degrees, which can lead to heart and respiratory failure and eventually death.

Studies have indicated that as the core body temperature falls to a critical level, constricted blood vessels that retain body heat expand and give off an exaggerated sensation of being hot, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

In cases of paradoxical undressing, the hypothermia victim, feeling hot but in the cold, then irrationally begins to undress in an attempt to stay cool.