Woman, grandson rescued from overturned vehicle stuck in ravine
By Kat Russell, Reporter
The Paducah Sun
July 18, 2017
http://www.paducahsun.com/news/local/woman-grandson-rescued-from-overturned-vehicle-stuck-in-ravine/article_a082e780-8190-55e2-ab86-1abcfe502fa5.html
By Kat Russell, Reporter
The Paducah Sun
July 18, 2017
http://www.paducahsun.com/news/local/woman-grandson-rescued-from-overturned-vehicle-stuck-in-ravine/article_a082e780-8190-55e2-ab86-1abcfe502fa5.html
A Mayfield woman and her 9-month-old grandson, who were reported missing Sunday in Graves County, were found early Monday morning trapped in an overturned SUV in a ravine in Marshall County.
Graves County Sheriff's Sgt. David Warner said Kayla Belcher, 35, and her grandson, John Luke Sheridan, were driving to a relative's house in the Kirksey area in Calloway County before they went missing.
Warner said they left a Graves County residence in the 500 block of Panther Creek Road at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday and were traveling in a red 2004 GMC Envoy.
Three hours passed and the two still had not reached their destination, Warner said. That's when the child's father went to the Mayfield Police Department and reported them missing.
Mayfield Police then looped in Graves County deputies and Kentucky State Police to assist in the search.
Deputies and state police conducted searches along the Graves-Marshall county line through the night and into Monday morning, Warner said, but could not find the vehicle, grandmother or child.
Marshall County Sheriff Kevin Byars said his deputies also were on the lookout during the night, hoping to locate Belcher's vehicle.
At about 4 a.m. Monday, Byars said they received information from Kentucky State Police about a possible location.
"The state police had been pinging the woman's phone, and they called us and gave us latitude and longitude coordinates," he said.
Deputies responded to an area along Ky. 402 between the Brewers community and the Marshall County line and began to search.
"They conducted a vehicle search first -- meaning deputies drove around the area looking for any sign of the woman, the child or the SUV -- and then got out and began to search on foot," Byars said.
After about an hour, Byars said the woman's vehicle was spotted at the bottom of a ravine.
"One of the deputies saw her vehicle and could hear the baby crying," the sheriff said. "It looked like she ran off the road, drove down into the ravine and hit an embankment and then the vehicle flipped over," trapping Belcher and the child.
Byars said the cause of the wreck was unknown, and it wasn't clear exactly when the accident occurred.
Once they were freed from the vehicle, Byars said Belcher and the child were rushed to Marshall County Hospital. Belcher was then airlifted to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Indiana, the sheriff said.
The woman's condition is unknown, though Byars said she sustained serious injuries. The child was treated at Marshall County Hospital for "bumps and bruises" and released, he said.
The sheriff said the area where the vehicle was found is generally not a "trouble area" when it comes to wrecks, but the road being near a ravine can create serious problems when crashes occur there.
Given the location, Byars said it was lucky the woman and child were found as quickly as they were.
"It was extremely difficult to see the vehicle because it was far enough down that you just couldn't see it from the roadway," he said. "Without the KSP pinging her phone, it could have taken a lot more time to find them."
Graves County Sheriff's Sgt. David Warner said Kayla Belcher, 35, and her grandson, John Luke Sheridan, were driving to a relative's house in the Kirksey area in Calloway County before they went missing.
Warner said they left a Graves County residence in the 500 block of Panther Creek Road at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday and were traveling in a red 2004 GMC Envoy.
Three hours passed and the two still had not reached their destination, Warner said. That's when the child's father went to the Mayfield Police Department and reported them missing.
Mayfield Police then looped in Graves County deputies and Kentucky State Police to assist in the search.
Deputies and state police conducted searches along the Graves-Marshall county line through the night and into Monday morning, Warner said, but could not find the vehicle, grandmother or child.
Marshall County Sheriff Kevin Byars said his deputies also were on the lookout during the night, hoping to locate Belcher's vehicle.
At about 4 a.m. Monday, Byars said they received information from Kentucky State Police about a possible location.
"The state police had been pinging the woman's phone, and they called us and gave us latitude and longitude coordinates," he said.
Deputies responded to an area along Ky. 402 between the Brewers community and the Marshall County line and began to search.
"They conducted a vehicle search first -- meaning deputies drove around the area looking for any sign of the woman, the child or the SUV -- and then got out and began to search on foot," Byars said.
After about an hour, Byars said the woman's vehicle was spotted at the bottom of a ravine.
"One of the deputies saw her vehicle and could hear the baby crying," the sheriff said. "It looked like she ran off the road, drove down into the ravine and hit an embankment and then the vehicle flipped over," trapping Belcher and the child.
Byars said the cause of the wreck was unknown, and it wasn't clear exactly when the accident occurred.
Once they were freed from the vehicle, Byars said Belcher and the child were rushed to Marshall County Hospital. Belcher was then airlifted to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Indiana, the sheriff said.
The woman's condition is unknown, though Byars said she sustained serious injuries. The child was treated at Marshall County Hospital for "bumps and bruises" and released, he said.
The sheriff said the area where the vehicle was found is generally not a "trouble area" when it comes to wrecks, but the road being near a ravine can create serious problems when crashes occur there.
Given the location, Byars said it was lucky the woman and child were found as quickly as they were.
"It was extremely difficult to see the vehicle because it was far enough down that you just couldn't see it from the roadway," he said. "Without the KSP pinging her phone, it could have taken a lot more time to find them."
