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Virginia Natural Gas employees help save elderly woman in Norfolk

Posted at 12:44 PM, Aug 23, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-23 12:45:13-04

NORFOLK, Va. - Three Virginia Natural Gas employees helped save a Norfolk woman's life during maintenance on an apartment basement.

According to Virginia Natural Gas, Doug Williams, Jason Suits and D'Aaron Brown were making necessary repairs on equipment in the basement when they heard a voice asking for help.

Doug Williams, Jason Suites and D'Aaron Brown (Virginia Natural Gas)

The three men continued working, hearing muffled sounds on and off for nearly an hour, before walking up to the first-floor apartment door where they thought the noises were coming from and knocking. No one responded.

“We really didn’t know what to think,” Williams said. “We didn’t know if someone was hurt or being held against their will, so we decided the best thing was to call the police to have them check out the situation.”

When police arrived, Williams, Suits and Brown showed them where they thought the "help" sounds were coming from. As police continued to knock on the first-floor apartment door, the calls for help turned into, "I'm in the kitchen," over and over.

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Police kicked the door in and found a woman sprawled across the kitchen floor. She was rushed to the hospital, where medics learned she had been lying on the kitchen floor for nearly three days with nothing to eat or drink.

"If we hadn't heard her crying out for help, she would have most likely died by the next day on her kitchen floor," Williams said.

"It was a blessing that we were working in the basement that day," Suits said. "We were blessed to be able to save a life that day."