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• The propane crisis escalated this week when Debbie Dogskin, 61, died while house-sitting for a friend in a rundown mobile home with an empty propane tank.
• "We think she just fell asleep and died," said her mother, Sara Dogskin, tears trickling from the corners of her eyes as she stared out the dining room window of her house just a few blocks from where her daughter died early Tuesday.
• Preliminary autopsy results released Friday did not identify a cause of death, but Sioux County Sheriff Frank Landeis said he believes Dogskin froze to death because it was as cold inside the home as out that morning -- 1 degree below zero. Dogskin's family said she had taken off some of her clothes, a symptom of the altered state of mind of someone in the advanced stages of hypothermia. Toxicology reports were expected in six to eight weeks.
• As the Dogskin family prepared for a memorial service, authorities investigated why there was no propane to heat the home. Her mother said Dogskin, who was known for helping others, likely felt a sense of responsibility to stay in the freezing home and keep watch over it for her friend.
• "She should have come back," Sara Dogskin said. "But my daughter, she would never say no."
• Propane -- a by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining -- has been in short supply in the U.S. since late last year after farmers burned up more than usual to dry out a late wet harvest. Compounding that, less propane has been arriving from Canada because of higher demand there, and the deadly cold winter in the U.S. has increased demand and driven up prices here.
• A gallon of propane is about $3.90 per gallon in the U.S. this week, down about 12 cents over the week but up about $1.59 from last year at the same time, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data released Wednesday. Ken Snider, who drives a propane truck for Cenex out of Selfridge, said the price on the reservation this winter peaked at $4.65 a gallon.
• The shortage has been particularly problematic on the 3,600-square-mile reservation, which has no natural gas lines and where using electricity to heat homes can be too expensive for many impoverished families, according to Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II. As many as 5,000 homes on the reservation rely on propane.
• Andrew Littlemoon Jr., 57, said he worries about maintaining a propane supply through the end of the winter. The disabled military veteran is unable to work. He and his wife rely on tribal aid and do what they can to conserve fuel in their small, poorly insulated rental house.
• "We're using electric heaters, plus when we cook on the propane stove, we use that to help heat up the house," he said.

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