North Texas woman who fell in sewer manhole was found dead 9 miles away, daughter says
A Dallas woman was killed in October when she walked over an open manhole in a construction zone and fell into the city sewer system, according to her daughter and an attorney.
The body of Teresa Gail Gonzales, 66, was found three days later at a sewage treatment plant over nine miles away from where she fell into the sewer, her only child, Cynthia Gonzales, said Tuesday at a news conference at her attorney’s office.
“It just hurts because nobody should have to go through that, nobody,” Cynthia Gonzales said in video of the Dec. 10 news conference, which was livestreamed on Instagram. “I don’t care who you are, nobody should have to feel that ... not that kind of tragedy.”
Teresa Gonzales was walking in the 1600 block of Record Crossing Road on Oct. 22 when the accident occurred, according to a news release from the office of attorney Ramez Shamieh.
Shamieh said he plans to file a lawsuit but he is waiting on a public records request to collect more information about what happened. At the news conference, Shamieh displayed a photo taken about a week after the accident, which he said shows gaps in the metal covering the manhole.
The City of Dallas declined to comment on the incident, according to Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV. A Dallas police spokesperson confirmed that officers responded when Teresa’s body was recovered and said the department is investigating the case as an “unexplained death,” WFAA reported. Results of an autopsy are pending.
