# Girl in wreck survives 10 days on noodles, Gatorade **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 14, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980 "2004-04-14T15:37:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/1 "2004-04-14T15:37:01Z")
There’s just never enough of the good news… I thought [this](http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/04/14/girl.found/index.html) was touching, and amazing, and a testament to the spirit of 5 year olds 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/2 "2004-04-14T18:40:52Z")
It’s wonderful that she survived, but that poor little girl had to sit next to her mother’s decomposing body for 10 days. She’s going to need therapy, as I can’t imagine what could have been going through her mind all that time. I really hope she gets some help after this. I wonder if she has family members she can live with or if she will be put in foster care. Bless her heart. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![SendIt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@SendIt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SendIt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/3 "2004-04-14T19:50:17Z")
Did anyone else read this and say WTF? They found her while repairing the gaurd rail. Didn’t anyone ever try to find out WHAT WENT THROUGH THE GAURD RAIL? They only noticed her because of her movement. No one would have ever looked for her, but they noticed motion down there. THE WRECKED CAR WASN’T ENOUGH REASON TO INVESTIGATE? Someone seriously needs to pit the idiot police and DOT workers for this one. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/4 "2004-04-14T21:24:19Z")
> [@Nutty Bunny](#): > > It’s wonderful that she survived, but that poor little girl had to sit next to her mother’s decomposing body for 10 days. She’s going to need therapy, as I can’t imagine what could have been going through her mind all that time. I really hope she gets some help after this. I wonder if she has family members she can live with or if she will be put in foster care. Bless her heart. ☹ According to the article, she has grandparents and great-grandparents, so hopefully she’ll have plenty of love and support. It really is heartbreaking to think of what she went to… The fact that she sat there for 10 days baffles me though… Just glad she’s (physically) ok. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/5 "2004-04-14T22:19:32Z")
I don’t cry often anymore, but I honestly just got finished crying over this one. I can’t think of anything worse than to be a little kid and to be held in your mother’s battered arms while she was dying, alone. At least the girl was rescued. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/6 "2004-04-14T23:57:32Z")
> [@SendIt](#): > > Did anyone else read this and say WTF? They found her while repairing the gaurd rail. Didn’t anyone ever try to find out WHAT WENT THROUGH THE GAURD RAIL? They only noticed her because of her movement. No one would have ever looked for her, but they noticed motion down there. THE WRECKED CAR WASN’T ENOUGH REASON TO INVESTIGATE? > > Someone seriously needs to pit the idiot police and DOT workers for this one. The BBC’s report said the family has “criticized the highway police for not searching for Ruby and her mother.” The family had reported them missing on April 4. The child claims her mother had been alive for a few days after the crash. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/7 "2004-04-15T00:02:36Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > The family had reported them missing on April 4. I presume the family didn’t know where they were traveling, or they would have not only told the polics but looked for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/8 "2004-04-15T01:10:08Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I presume the family didn’t know where they were traveling, or they would have not only told the polics but looked for themselves. I would hope they searched as well (although family members sound a bit old and perhaps don’t drive.) I know that if I went missing my mom wouldn’t be able to do much more than tell the cops that I left Point A, destined for Point B, but never showed up. But from the CNN article: > [@](#): > > The California Highway Patrol received a call early April 4 from a motorist who said a car on State Route 60 may have gone over the side of the road. Authorities searched the area at the time but found nothing. > \ > Rose Lopez, Ruby’s aunt, told reporters Wednesday the Indio Police Department “dismissed” the family’s worries. “They said she [Norma] probably just wanted to be alone.” > \ > He said descriptions of the car and mother and daughter were sent to all local law enforcement agencies and were entered into the state’s missing person database. Officers also checked local hospitals and morgues. > > “We feel we honestly did everything in our power,” Miller said. Missing mother and daugther… a report that a car may have gone over the rail… damage to the rail that got documented well enough that a road crew was sent to repair it. Hm. I’m still in :mad: mode. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/9 "2004-04-15T01:30:05Z")
:eek: They didn’t think to see what the hell caused the damage?! I hope to God that if anyone I know ends up in a situation like this its not in one of those towns where the road department is on a permanent break. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/10 "2004-04-15T02:46:33Z")
There was a similar case some months ago, a mother and her child crashed their car some meters off a lone road and the child survived several days on cookies or something; very similar case indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/11 "2004-04-15T04:17:34Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > :eek: > > They didn’t think to see what the hell caused the damage?! On CNN this evening, they said that the Highway Patrol had stopped to investigate-- the officers just couldn’t see the car all the way down in the ravine. I can understand how they missed it, because it seems to have rolled under some scrub trees. They apparently stopped, looked at the damaged guardrail, looked to see if a car was at the bottom, and not seeing one (or apparently any torn up soil which would indicate a car had rolled) they must have assumed the car that caused it drove away after the accident. God, that poor kid . . . . ---
**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/12 "2004-04-15T04:32:30Z")
This is the second story I’ve read about a child surviving an accident while their parent died - but in the first one (perhaps a month ago) the parent died right away. I don’t have a cite - I think **Ale** may have seen the same story. Sad beyond belief. I can only hope that the child was so young that she won’t retain the memories of watching her mother die. I read this story on Foxnews today and just wanted to go hug my kids - it’s one of those stories that reminds us of the elasticity and strength of a young child’s mentality. I guess one positive lesson we can learn out of this tragedy is that we should always carry food/water in the car when we’re out with our young children. My prayers and thoughts go out to the family. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/13 "2004-04-15T05:22:22Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > The child claims her mother had been alive for a few days after the crash. :mad: According to the link, the autopsy report says she likely died within minutes. Maybe it just felt like days? ☹ And if they followed up “local leads”, wouldn’t they have looked a little more carefully after reports of a car possibly going over the side of the road? They checked it out, they saw that the guardrail had been damaged but they “found nothing”? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/14 "2004-04-15T14:19:08Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Creaky_ > I can’t think of anything worse than to be a little kid and to be held in your mother’s battered arms while she was dying, alone. At least the girl was rescued. Well, I would think that starving to death _after_ watching her mother die would be worse, so thank God there was food in the car. It is terribly sad, but also a little triumphant, because the little girl survived. My 16-year-old was telling me about this story yesterday, and my 4-year-old was close at hand while she was telling me. I made my oldest daughter shut up about it. . .if there’s one thing I don’t need, it’s my little one obsessing over this kind of thing happening to _her_. I think I’ll put some non-perishable food and bottled water in the van. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/15 "2004-04-15T14:37:36Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I think I’ll put some non-perishable food and bottled water in the van. I think I’ll watch my ass driving on mountain roads. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/16 "2004-04-15T14:54:46Z")
> [@Silver Fire](#): > > According to the link, the autopsy report says she likely died within minutes. Maybe it just felt like days? > > ☹ Hm. This is true. It’s not like such a young child could readily distinguish between “sleep”, “coma” and “death.” Might’ve thought mom was alive until obvious signs of decomposition had started. I had just assumed that when the kid was saying mom had been a live for awhile that there was more obvious signs of consciousness. > [@lissa](#): > > On CNN this evening, they said that the Highway Patrol had stopped to investigate-- the officers just couldn’t see the car all the way down in the ravine. I can understand how they missed it, because it seems to have rolled under some scrub trees. But that’s just it. If there are scrub trees obscuring your view then you can’t really say that you’ve “investigated” or really “looked.” It would be like me going to look for someone at home and saying “well, I looked in the windows and didn’t see anything” when the curtains are drawn. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/17 "2004-04-15T15:01:27Z")
There have been a number of stories about kids who were stuck with dead parents in houses, cars and they are all so sad. Five is so young. I think of my four year old son since he is close to that age and I get very sad to think of the fear and confusion they must experience. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/18 "2004-04-15T15:51:58Z")
Is [this the other story](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3438163.stm) that everyone is remembering? Strangley, I vaguely recall another story that is much, _much_ more like the OP in which the car was obsured by brush and was discovered by road workers. Though I may be thinking about a news story that did not involve a child. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/19 "2004-04-15T16:19:42Z")
Gatoraide? Luxury! I know college students that have lived _SIX YEARS_ on Top Ramen and watered-down Kool-aide! ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980/20 "2004-04-15T16:48:15Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > Is [this the other story](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3438163.stm) that everyone is remembering? > > Strangley, I vaguely recall another story that is much, _much_ more like the OP in which the car was obsured by brush and was discovered by road workers. > > Though I may be thinking about a news story that did not involve a child. [Fixed link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3438163.stm). (Kid’s name was Angel? And this didn’t get glurged?) And there was that elderly woman in Florida who drove off a bridge who survived for several days before being discovered - maybe the that’s the one you’re thinking of, **Eats\_Crayons**? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-in-wreck-survives-10-days-on-noodles-gatorade/239980.md?page=2)