Man Survives Six Days in Auto Crash, Family Searches and Finds Him

Various | October 1, 2011 | Auntie Mame

[Auntie Mame]

David Lavau, age 67, missing for six days, was found alive and well by his grown children who formed their own search party to find their father. They reported him missing to the authorities after he'd been missing for five days and on the sixth day formed their own search party.

The children drove the desolate stretch of road they suspected their father had driven, stopping at the dropoffs calling their father's name, and at one place they heard a faint, "Help, help," and amazingly, it was their father! The state of his car after plunging so many feet was enough to make them realize it was lucky he even survived the crash, much less surviving for six days, alone at the bottom of a ravine with broken bones and listening to the sound of cars passing by just beyond reach.

But that is not the end of the story.

Alongside his car was another crashed car which was from a completely separate accident and contained a badly decomposed body.

[Auntie Mame]

This story fascinates me, perhaps because I was fortunate enough to see it when it first aired on local Los Angeles television. There were lengthy interviews with his grown children, who were flush with emotion and the joy and happiness from finding their father, just a few hours earlier. Here's a link to some video with snippets of interviews with his adult children:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8373596

There are a lot of articles available, from many sources.

This is a good article:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/09/30/man_survives_for_days_after_car_plunges_off_cliff/

And here are some others:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/cliff-rescue-sheriffs-department.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/man-who-plunged-off-cliff-ate-bumblees-ants-for-six-days-doctor-says.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/30/eveningnews/main20114125.shtml

[PLMerite]

Nice to see our emergency services are on their toes. /s

[Cicero]

Good story.

“Alongside his car was another crashed car.”

Sounds like they need a guardrail there.

[righttackle44]

God bless the kids. Speaks well of them AND of dad.

[cripplecreek]

It wasn’t till someone actually went over the side of the Mackinaw bridge that authorities started wondering about other people who went missing between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.

[carjic]

Sounds like a Twilight Zone Episode. At the end they would pan over to the other car with the dead guy in it.

[bboop]

Thanks for posting the TV report. Being local, I wanted to know where this was. Those mountains are steep and treacherous. It’s a miracle he survived. I wouldn’t diss Search & Rescue, tho. It’s wild in there.

[Steely Tom]

Sure hope they squared this with the rescue workers’ union.

[Auntie Mame]

I wish I could have found better video and everyone could see the interviews I was fortunate to see right after it happened. The emotions of the man’s children were so real, with no camera self-consciousness.... very unusual to see this on TV. Plus they seem like a wonderful close family.

And the story has everything: mystery, a quest, deductive reasoning, self-reliance, father and children, miraculous survival, and a surprise ending.

[nevergore]

He should have bought a squirrel!

[mc5cents]

"When seconds count, the police are just minutes away."

Just a reminder folks, don't count on Government™.

[Marty62]

Did they say who belong to the other car. I wonder if that person died on impact or just died alone starving to death.

[Borderline]

"Nice to see our emergency services are on their toes. /s"

This man was not reported missing until day 5. Family forming search parties is pretty common. I am a member of a remote Idaho county's SAR organization - a man reported missing would get instant response. First needs to be determined a search area and then immediately would be many volunteers called out along with helicopter support from county, state and federal organizations. We get a lot of heli support from the air force here along with local SAR dedicated helicopters.

Last year we spent well over $200,000 on a single search for a missing hiker. 230 people were involved and 6 helicopters. I was there day 1 ( morning after reported missing) with a horse team and on day 4 and 6 as a helicopter spotter.

Without more background information your comment is useless and ill aimed. We, and you, have no idea how many county personnel were involved just one day after the report. The fact that family found him is only indicative that they had more intimate information and could react faster than 'emergency services'.

[TribalPrincess2U]

News writers today really suck.

My pet peeve are stories that mentions someones name three-quarters into the story so you re-read at the start to see who they’re talking about and there’s nothing there.

[AnAmericanMother]

From what I recall from earlier stories, he died on impact.

He was an 88 year old man who had also been reported missing by his family -- but he was from a long way away. Apparently he simply kept driving until he drove off the road. Family said he had no earlier signs of dementia, he may have just been really, really lost.

Probably he went over some time earlier, since the body was badly decomposed and they had to contact family via the VIN on the car.

On a somewhat macabre note: The surviving man lost his glasses in the crash and took a pair of glasses from the dead man so that he could see to find water. You do what you gotta, and I'm sure the dead man wouldn't have grudged his glasses to help the other man survive.

[TribalPrincess2U]

On a road he traveled?

I would have been out looking on that road in just ‘hours’ not days.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

A similar story happened to my relatives in Oregon, without the happy ending. My cousin called to say he was on his way home and never made it. Since he was in his forties and not a cute kid the cops took one ride along his route and called it off. Relatives found him a week later after walking along the road.

[ex91B10]

I would have been out looking on that road in just ‘hours’ not days.

Thank you. I thought it odd also that the family waited six days.

[Marty62]

I’m sure your right.

sometimes fate is a funny (not ha ha) thing.

At least he didn’t suffer.