A "brave little girl" who survived a deadly plane crash in remote eastern Kentucky on Friday walked away from the wreckage to seek help at a stranger's doorstep.
Larry Wilkins, 71, was watching the local news at his Buckberry Trail home at around 6:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. ET) when he said he heard a knock.
"The little girl come to my door," Wilkins told NBC News in a telephone interview late Friday. "She was bleeding pretty bad, her legs were bleeding, her face had a bloody nose. She was barefoot, only had one sock on."
"She told me that her mom and her dad were dead, and she was in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down," he said. "She asked if she could stay here. I said, 'Honey, what can I do for you?' I got a wash cloth and cleaned her up. And of course called 911."
Marty Gutzler, 49, and Kimberly Gutzler, 45; their daughter, 9-year-old Piper Gutzler; and Sierra Walder, 14, Piper's cousin were killed in the crash, according to Kentucky State Police. The identity of the 7-year-old survivor and her relationship to the victims was not released. The victims were from Nashville, Illinois, police said.
The wreckage of a Piper PA-34 aircraft and the bodies of four people were later found in a heavily wooded area near Buckberry Trail in Lyon County, state police said.
The girl was being treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. State police said the plane was flying from Key West, Florida, to Mount Vernon, Illinois, when it crashed. The FAA lost contact with the plane at about 5:55 p.m. local time, shortly after the pilot reported engine problems, authorities said.
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending investigators to the crash site, police said.
After Wilkins called 911, police arrived within minutes, he said. "The little girl was so shook up we couldn't understand much of what she said," he said.
Wilkins said he didn't hear anything out of the ordinary before the girl knocked on his door. He said the area was recently hit by an ice storm that had knocked down trees in the woods nearby, making the terrain even more rugged. He wishes he could have done more for the girl before she was taken to the hospital. "I felt so sorry for her, tears come to my eyes. Seven years old. Brave little girl."
First published January 2 2015, 7:56 PM
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