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The family members of two 97-year-old twin sisters who died over the weekend say they take great comfort in knowing that the best friends left this earth together.
According to the Providence Journal, police have revealed that Martha Williams and her twin sister, Jean Haley, were both found unresponsive Saturday morning outside a Rhode Island home.
Authorities say it appears that both sisters accidentally tripped outside and likely died in the freezing temperatures.
Williams was reportedly found lying face down in the driveway of Haley’s home. It looked as if she had been walking out to her car when she fell.
The Barrington Police Department said in a statement that Haley may have tripped on a rug in her garage while she was trying to call for help.
Barrington Police Chief John LaCross said the two women were no more than 25 feet away from each other when they were finally found.
“They came into life together and they died together,” John Haley, one of Jean Haley’s sons, told TIME on Monday. “It was kind of a comforting feeling to know they were still together. That’s the way they came in and that’s the way they went out.”
The twins had reportedly died shortly after having dinner with another one of their sisters, but the other sister is said to have left well before the accident.
“It was very much a shock to us,” said Jean Haley’s daughter-in-law, Jessica Haley.
According to TIME, John Haley quickly rushed to the hospital, where he found the two sisters lying in gurneys next to each other.
Haley reportedly asked the hospital staff to keep the twins together, even though they had both already been declared dead when they arrived.
The sisters have been described as “best friends, always,” according to reports.
“They did everything together,” John Haley said. They reportedly lived within a few miles of each other their whole lives.
Although their causes of death have yet to be determined, authorities say foul play is not suspected and “extreme cold temperatures” on the night they fell may have been contributing factors.
According to the Providence Journal, the sisters had been alone outside for at least 11 hours by the time they were finally discovered.
While the entire family is devastated that the twins are gone, they know that the sisters would have preferred to die together than to spend the rest of their lives apart.
“Twins have something special,” John Haley said. “The way we look at it too, if one of them had gone before the other one, they would have been miserable. It’s kind of beautiful in a way.”
The coroner’s office said on Monday that the sisters’ autopsy results are still pending.
