LENGBY, Minn. — Wally Nelson opened his front door on the morning of Dec. 20, 1990 and saw a 19-year-old woman lying in the snow, just feet from his home.

“Her face was ghost-like,” Nelson told The Associated Press in 1990. “I figured she was dead.”

Nelson recognized the young woman: Jean Hilliard, a family friend. Unbeknownst to Nelson, her vehicle veered into the ditch, miles away.

"I had my parents' car, and I was just upset that I'd slid off the road," Hilliard, who now goes by Jean Vig, told Forum News Service. "I was hoping the car was okay. So even that night, the cold didn't really bother me or make me afraid. I was frustrated more than anything."

A cold snap had hit Minnesota that evening, with temperatures dipping below 22 degrees Fahrenheit, according to newspaper accounts f

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