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The coroner identified the victim as Joseph Via III, "Joey, who was in the process of transitioning to Lizzy," her stepmother, Sue Frederick Via, said in a Facebook post.
She was found unresponsive and entrapped between a forklift and a parked tractor-trailer at her place of work, C-P Flexible Packaging, located at 15 Grumbacher Road, Manchester Township at 11:10 a.m. on Nov. 30, authorities explained. "It is unknown exactly how or when the incident occurred," coroner Pam Gay said.
She was taken to WellSpan York Hospital where she died, according to the coroner.
"EMS and the emergency room tried for a combined 40 minutes to bring her back, but it was just too much. I can't fathom what she went through," her wife Dawn Via wrote on a GoFundMe campaign page.
Deputy Coroner Riley Demeritt and Chief Deputy Coroner Tania Zech went to the hospital to investigate and certify her death. She was officially pronounced deceased at 12:40 p.m.
Her cause of death was blunt force injuries and her manner of death was ruled accidental by the Coroner Pam Gay following an autopsy at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown on Friday, Dec. 1.
Daily Voice reached out to the company and OSHA for comments.
A spokesperson from OSHA has responded to our inquiry with the following statement:
"I can confirm that OSHA is investigating this incident. The agency has a total of six months to conduct its investigation and release its findings. No other information is available at this time."
A representative from C-P Flexible Packaging emailed us a brief statement:
"No comment at this time."
An older LinkedIn profile shows she had the following skills and industry knowledge:
- Forklift Training.
- Forklift Operation.
- Warehouse Operations.
"Dawn and Lizzie were 2 peas in a pod," a family friend wrote in a Facebook post.
Lizzy's wife Dawn has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the funeral costs. On the campaign page, she wrote the following:
"Lizzy was an amazing, compassionate person. She would do anything for anyone if they asked. She bought gifts for people just because she thought they might like it or it pertained to their interests. She worked hard, so hard she would often be asleep on the couch when I got home from work. She was always there for me when I needed her and we were an amazing team. I could write forever about her. I'm going to miss scratching her back to help her sleep. Ironically it helped me sleep, too."
Lizzy was born in Grantville, PA, and lived with her wife Dawn in Dover since 2015, according to her social media. She attended Northeastern Senior High School and went on to work as a warehouse associate at UNFI, a sales associate at Sheetz, and an inventory control specialist at Wal-Mart, according to her Facebook bio. Her most recent position at C-P Flexible Packaging was not listed on any of her social media profiles.
Dawn explained that people are invited to visit Lizzy's family at Gladfelter Funeral Home at 1 p.m. on December 8th, her funeral service will begin at 2 p.m.
An official obituary had not been released at the time of publishing.
Click here to donate to the GoFundMe campaign.
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