The haunting last words of Shanell Anderson could not summon help in time to save her life, but her final breaths would rise above the darkness of a Georgia pond to make all Americans safer.
Two years ago, Anderson made a desperate 911 call while trapped in her car as it sank in a Cherokee County pond.
Dispatchers couldn’t find Anderson after her call was routed to the wrong 911 call center. Her phone never told dispatchers where to find her. By the time first-responders found her, it was too late. She passed away several days later.
11Alive Chief Investigator Brendan Keefe began a two-year investigation into the broken 911 system.
The series was featured on NBC’s Today show and was part of a major story in USA Today. It also won the prestigious Peabody, DuPont and National Murrow awards.
In his investigation, Keefe found that it was Anderson's location that cost her her life. The pond she accidentally drove into was located on the wrong side of a map, which caused her emergency call to be directed to a tower in the next county. The 911 center's maps stopped and the county line, and the address wasn't on dispatcher's maps. That meant the dispatcher couldn't see the address on her screen in order to send help and possibly save Anderson's life.
