Missing Mother Of Three Found Alive After Six Days Trapped In Crashed Car

March 13, 2025

Today's good news story comes from Newton County, Indiana.

A 41-year-old mother of three, Brieonna Cassell, has been found alive after spending six days trapped inside her wrecked car in Indiana. Cassell, who suffered multiple broken bones, was discovered by a worker operating drainage equipment near a county landfill—out of sight from passing traffic.

missing mother found in car for 6 days in ditch
Brieonna Cassell was missing for 6 days trapped in her car

Cassell had been missing since Wednesday after she left her mother's home to visit a friend in the Wheatfield and DeMotte area. While driving, she fell asleep behind the wheel and veered off the road, crashing into a ditch. With her phone battery dead and her body immobilized by injuries, she had no way to call for help.

"My family and I spent days searching for her," her daughter Lexie said. "We had no leads and no way to find her location. My dad and friends walked up and down ditches for miles trying to find her. We posted her everywhere but no one had seen her."

Despite her severe injuries—including compound fractures in both legs and a broken wrist—Cassell held on, desperately trying to signal for help. She survived by dipping her hoodie in water through a small crack in the door, then wringing it out to drink.

“She was using her hoodie and wringing it to get a drink of water, trying to survive,” said her father, John Caldwell. “She was in excruciating pain. She was screaming out for help. She could hear cars going by, but they couldn’t see her from the road.”

On Tuesday, nearly a week after the crash, a worker spotted her vehicle off the roadway and alerted his supervisor, who also serves as the Morocco fire chief. They approached the car and found Cassell conscious and able to speak. She was quickly airlifted to Chicago’s Christ Hospital, where she is receiving treatment and may require surgery.

With deep emotion, Cassell’s mother expressed her gratitude, saying, “I am so incredibly thankful to everyone for caring so much about my daughter. I couldn’t even bring myself to go on Facebook or anything... Johnny Martinez, thank you from the bottom of my heart for finding my baby—I could never repay you.”

Cassell’s miraculous survival is a testament to her incredible resilience, and her family is grateful that she was finally found.