LONDON – A 41-year-old Indiana mother of three, missing for nearly a week, was miraculously found alive inside her wrecked vehicle after being trapped for six days. Authorities credit her survival to sheer determination and a stroke of luck that led to her discovery in a deep roadside ditch, hidden from passing traffic.
Brieonna Cassell had been missing since Thursday night when she fell asleep at the wheel, veered off the road, and crashed into a deep ditch under a bridge. With no means of communication and severe injuries to her legs and wrist, she remained trapped inside her car, unable to free herself. Her phone had fallen under the passenger seat and was dead, leaving her completely cut off from the outside world. Despite being just yards away from a busy road, no one could see or hear her cries for help.
Her harrowing ordeal finally came to an end on Tuesday when Johnny Martinez, a worker operating excavation equipment near the area, noticed a car obscured from sight. Recognizing something was wrong, he immediately contacted his supervisor, Jeremy Vanderwall, who is also an assistant chief at a local volunteer fire department. The two men went to investigate and found Cassell still inside the car, alert but severely injured.
“She was very conscious, 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.’”
Cassell had suffered serious injuries that left her immobile inside the vehicle. With no access to food and dehydration becoming a major concern, she resorted to a survival tactic that likely saved her life.
“The only way she was able to survive was by using her hoodie to soak up water from a nearby ditch and bringing it to her mouth,” said her father, Delmar Caldwell. “She could hear cars passing by, and she screamed for help, but nobody could hear her.”
The emotional toll of being stranded and alone for six days was immense. “I’m sure that was demoralizing,” Vanderwall said, acknowledging the psychological battle Cassell had to endure while waiting for a rescue that, for days, seemed unlikely.
Cassell’s disappearance had sparked concern throughout Newton County, with authorities and volunteers tirelessly searching for her. However, due to the vehicle’s hidden position under the bridge, even those familiar with the area missed it.
Vanderwall, who had driven past the location multiple times, admitted he never saw anything. It was Martinez’s position in a tall tractor that allowed him to spot the car, setting off the chain of events that led to Cassell’s rescue.
Recognizing the vehicle from local missing person alerts, Martinez wasted no time in taking action. Sheriff Shannon Cothran praised his keen eye and quick thinking, calling him a hero.
“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. “Had he not seen her and pushed for help, she could have remained there for even longer, and the outcome might not have been the same.”
Cassell was airlifted to a hospital in Chicago, approximately 75 miles from Newton County. She remains in serious condition but is showing signs of improvement. Her father, relieved to have his daughter alive, said she is now in “good spirits” and “eating a lot,” which he sees as a promising sign of recovery.
Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran called Cassell’s survival “an incredible testament to her will to live,” emphasizing the power of human endurance and resilience.
Cassell’s father expressed deep gratitude to everyone involved in the search and rescue. “Everybody that helped to find her—the volunteers, the authorities—it was a wonderful miracle,” Caldwell said.
As Cassell begins her long journey to recovery, her story serves as a remarkable reminder of survival against the odds, the importance of community vigilance, and the role that fate can sometimes play in life-or-death situations. With the right combination of determination, ingenuity, and the kindness of strangers, she lived to tell a story of survival that will be remembered for years to come.
