Drugs In Nebraska Freezing Deaths

A young couple lost in rural Nebraska died in a snowstorm despite calling 911 at least five times from a cell phone.

A toxicologist at Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha said Friday the pair died of hypothermia and had methamphetamine in their systems.

He says Michael Wamsley and Janelle Hornickel had levels of meth in their systems that could have impaired their judgment. He also says the drug can cause people to feel hot, prompting them to perhaps not dress properly for the weather.

Investigators trying to find the source of the drugs arrested a Kearney mother and son on drugs charges. Judy Morel and 19-year-old Mica Morel were arrested on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

Copies of the 911 tapes were being prepared, as well as a timeline of events, maps and a videotape of the area that was made during the search.

Sarpy County Chief Deputy Sheriff Jeff Davis says toxicology and autopsy results also will be made public.

Hornickel was a junior at Creighton University in Omaha. She and Wamsley had dated about a year, and most recently they had worked at the same telemarketing company.

On the evening before they died, Wamsley and Hornickel had been stopped by police for traffic violations in Geneva, about 100 miles west of Omaha. The couple, both from Ord in central Nebraska, said they were lost, and the officer pointed the right way to Omaha.

Police say they received telephone calls from the couple from about 2 a.m. CST until 4:56 a.m. the day they died. The calls, however, had bounced off different cellular telephone towers, making it impossible to accurately trace their whereabouts.

Wamsley's snow-covered body was found Jan. 6, and Hornickel's was found six days later at the edge of a sand pit lake. Both were within two miles of the truck.

Fellow students from Creighton University had helped the families in the search.

One of Hornickel's sisters, speaking at the funeral this Wednesday, says it is now her crusade to change Nebraska's 911 system to include technology to pinpoint cellular phone calls.