Girl, 7, ventured through dark woods after plane crash killed family

Authorities on Sunday praised a seven-year-old girl who ventured through dark woods for help after surviving a plane crash that killed her parents, a sister and a cousin on Friday in rural western Kentucky.

“She is one remarkable young lady,” Heidi Moats, an investigator for National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference.

Moats said the NTSB arrived at the crash scene on Sunday but she had no information on the cause.

The plane crashed early Friday evening into woods near Eddyville, Kentucky, killing the pilot, Marty Gutzler, 47, his 46-year-old wife, Kimberly Gutzler, their nine-year-old daughter Piper Gutzler and a niece, Sierra Wilder, 14, authorities said.

The Gutzlers, from Nashville, Illinois, were on their way home from Florida when Marty Gutzler reported an emergency and was directed to land at the nearest small airport, Kentucky State Police Lieutenant Brent White said at the news conference.

The girl, identified in a statement released to the media through a family lawyer as Sailor Gutzler, said the plane came to halt upside down and partly on fire, White said. The girl suffered broken bones in her arm, he said.

“She believed that her family was deceased but she hoped they were just sleeping,” White said. The girl freed herself from the plane with one arm and walked away to seek help, wearing only shorts and a light shirt in 38-degree temperatures, he said.

“She navigated downed trees, she navigated briars and bushes,” White said. She walked for an estimated 15 to 20 minutes on the dark and misty night until she saw lights coming from the home of Larry Wilkins, White said.

After she arrived at his door, Wilkins called 911. Police, including White, arrived within minutes and the girl was taken to a hospital, White said. White said the girl was distraught and shook up but able to describe the crash and where the plane was located.

“I was literally struck by how calm she was,” White said.

The girl was treated and released on Saturday from a hospital, White said. She will be an important witness as the NTSB investigates how and why the crash occurred, Moats said. The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating.

The plane, a Piper PA-34-200T, described by police as a fixed-wing multiple-engine aircraft, had departed Key West, Florida on Friday and stopped in Tallahassee, Florida, en route to Mt. Vernon, Illinois, police said.