(NEWTON COUNTY, Ind.) — A 41-year-old mother of three was found alive in her wrecked car in Indiana after being trapped for six days, authorities said.
A man was operating equipment for a drainage and excavation company on Tuesday when he spotted a car off a roadway, out of view from passing traffic, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office said.
He called his supervisor, Jeremy Vanderwall, who’s an assistant chief at a local volunteer fire department, and the two checked the car and found Brieonna Cassell inside, the sheriff’s office said.
“She was she was very conscious, very alert, very aware of how severe her injuries were,” Vanderwall told ABC News.
“She said, ‘I didn’t think anybody was gonna find me. I thought I was gonna die in this ditch,'” Vanderwall recalled.
Cassell was flown to a hospital in Chicago, which is about 75 miles north of Newton County.
Cassell had been trapped since Thursday night when she fell asleep at the wheel and veered off the road into a deep ditch under a bridge, according to her father, Delmar Caldwell.
She suffered serious injuries to her legs and wrist, and her phone was dead under the passenger seat, Caldwell told ABC News.
Cassell could hear cars going by and she screamed, but no one could see or hear her, Caldwell said.
“I’m sure that was demoralizing,” Vanderwall said.
“She was stuck in the car and could not get out. But she was able to reach the water from the car,” Caldwell said. “The only way she was able to survive was using her hoodie and dipping it into the water in a ditch and sucking the water, or bringing the the water into her mouth from the ditch.”
“To have the wherewithal to use her shirt to get water, knowing that she had to have water to survive … just survival skills, man,” Vanderwall added.
On Tuesday morning, “she had given up hope of being found,” Caldwell said. “And then, by the grace of God and the prayers and everything, she was found.”
“Everybody that helped to find her and the volunteers and everything … it was a wonderful miracle,” Caldwell said.
Cassell is now in “good spirits” and “eating a lot,” he said.
Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran called Cassell’s survival “an incredible testament to her will to live.”
The sheriff also commended Johnny Martinez, the passerby who found Cassell’s car.
Vanderwall said Martinez could spot the car because he was driving a tall tractor.
“I myself had traveled that road at least three to four times since she crashed and did not see her,” Vanderwall noted.
Caldwell said his daughter’s missing person report was well-known in the area, so Martinez knew who Cassell was when he found her.
“In my book, Mr. Martinez is a hero, and we can never thank him enough for his keen eye and quick action,” the sheriff said in a statement.
Vanderwall added, “If he hadn’t seen her and hadn’t pushed for me to go back and check on her, she could have laid there for who knows how much longer, and the outcome might not be the same.”
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
