Lack of Propane May Have Caused Fort Yates Death

FORT YATES, N.D. (AP) — A woman has been found dead in her home with an empty propane tank on the Standing Rock Reservation in the Dakotas.

Tribal and Sioux County authorities told The Bismarck Tribune Debbie Dogskin was found dead on Tuesday morning in a Fort Yates mobile home. She was in her early 50s.

Authorities haven't specifically tied Dogskin's death to a lack of propane, but the overnight low temperature dropped to about zero that day. A cause of death was not announced and the Bureau of Indian Affairs declined comment.

The tribe has declared a state of emergency because about 5,000 homes on the reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border are heated by propane. The fuel has more than doubled in price because of a nationwide shortage.