70-year-old Carol Sue Minx (Susie Minx) of Crescent City, was traveling home to Crescent City after some appointments she had in Eureka and was unaccounted for from approximately 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, September 6th, until almost 1 p.m. Sunday, September 10th.
She had not been in contact with anyone since Wednesday afternoon, and that was very unusual for her according to her daughter Stephanie La Torre. “Her neighbors had not seen her, she had not been in touch with me, she was not answering her phone, and the phone was going straight to voicemail. Additionally, when I went to her house to look around, it was very apparent that she had intended to return after her trip to Eureka. Her computer was still on, lights were on, and I just knew that she had not planned to go out of town for an extended period of time”, La Torre stated.
La Torre went on to say that Saturday evening, they had the idea to try and track her phone through a link in her Google account which showed that her phone had no activity and had not traveled anywhere since Wednesday evening. They were also able to see with greater specificity that she had left Eureka and that the last place the phone had pinged was at Prairie Creek.
After reporting her missing, the California Highway Patrol actively patrolled the highway and had called in an air search crew from Redding California to search from the air.
She was found at Highway 101 mile marker 132, just south of the Del Norte County border by a fire crew who had seen the report that she was missing and that an active search was being executed by the Highway Patrol. On Sunday, because her phone had reportedly shown her last whereabouts as possibly being in the Prairie Creek State Park area, the fire crew decided to start driving along the highway and looking down into the ravine areas off of the road, to see if they could see anything that wasn’t easily visible from the road.
Susie Minx and her two dogs, Sid & Winnie went off the road into a very steep, heavily wooded area before her vehicle came to rest. The 70-year-old was trapped in her vehicle for four days and four nights with no food or water, after rolling multiple times down a 50-foot drop and landing in the bottom of a ravine where nobody could see her or hear her.
She did have her cell phone with her, however, because of the way that she was pinned in the vehicle, and because the car had flipped multiple times, she was unable to locate it. Without being able to be charged, the phone soon died and her cell carrier was unable to locate the phone’s current location.
La Torre stated that her mother was weak and passing in and out of consciousness when she was found. She says that her mother heard the squawk of the fire crew’s radio which is what alerted her to their presence and that she tried to call for help, but was unsure if they had heard her.
She was found with lacerations and abrasions on her face from the airbag deploying and flying glass from the windows. She has fractured ribs, heavy bruising over her entire body, as well as a puncture wound in her ankle. She was also diagnosed as being severely anemic when they brought her into the hospital, as well as dehydrated. She has received several rounds of blood transfusions. Medical staff will continue to monitor those levels to see if they need to do any further blood transfusions. She continues to be quite weak, and tires very easily, and is receiving necessary medications and appropriate treatment for her injuries and condition.
La Torre reports that her mother remains in the hospital, and they are unsure as to when she will be released. She is slowly regaining her strength but still quite weak as she recovers from her injuries and pain.
A grateful La Torre would like to thank the fire crew that found her as well as the CHP for their immediate efforts to try and locate her.
“CHP Dispatchers in Crescent City proactively reached out to us and stayed in communication with us as well. That was very much appreciated” La Torre said. She would also like to thank the medical staff at the hospital for taking such good care of her as well as God and all their friends and family who have been praying for her, and for us, during what she believes is nothing short of a miracle.
Beyond amazing-