Mom found alive in car six days after crash, Indiana cops say. Here’s how she survived

A mother of three reported missing in Indiana was found alive, surviving under harrowing conditions for nearly a week, authorities say.

The Newton County Sheriff’s Office said 41-year-old Brieonna Cassell was discovered alive in a crashed car Tuesday, March 11, when a passerby noticed the vehicle off a roadway.

Miraculously, Cassell was “conscious and speaking,” but she had injuries that required her being flown to a Chicago hospital for treatment, the sheriff said.

Her father, Delmar Caldwell, said Cassell will have “a long road to recovery,” but he considered their family to be “blessed everything worked out the way it did,” according to an interview streamed by WLS.

Sheriff Shannon Cothran said Johnny Martinez was operating equipment for a drainage company when he saw Cassell’s vehicle and contacted his supervisor, who is also the fire chief for the nearby town of Morocco.

More than 400 cars passed Cassell’s vehicle a day until Martinez made the discovery, her mother, Kim Brown, told reporters.

“Mr. Martinez is a hero, and we can never thank him enough for his keen eye and quick action,” the sheriff said.

When Morocco Fire Chief Jeremy Vanderwall got to the car, he said he was shocked to discover a woman trapped inside the vehicle, WBBM reported.

“When I got down to her, she had some dry blood on her forehead. And I said, ‘How long have you been down here?’” Vanderwall told WBBM. “And she said, ‘Since Wednesday.’ I said, ‘Ma’am, it’s Tuesday…. I think maybe you’re confused… it’s only Tuesday. Tomorrow’s Wednesday.’”

It’s believed that Cassell crashed that previous Wednesday when she fell asleep behind the wheel, veering off into a “very big, deep ditch,” Caldwell told WLS.

Photos shared by Team NWI - Independent Search & Rescue show the back end of Cassell’s Ford Taurus in the ditch, away from the eyesight of nearby traffic.

WISH-TV said the partially-submerged car was 12 feet below the top of the ditch.

Cassell survived by dipping her hoodie in creek water then sucking on it so she would not go thirsty, Brown told reporters. She also put up signs in her windows but was unable to retrieve her phone, which had fallen under a seat when she crashed.

Vanderwall described Cassell’s survival tactics as “uncanny,” he told WBBM.

“She did what she could to survive,” Brown said.

Newton County is about an 85-mile drive south from Chicago.

This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 9:31 AM with the headline "Mom found alive in car six days after crash, Indiana cops say. Here’s how she survived."