Kentucky plane crash survivor, 7, hiked woods

KUTTAWA, Ky. — Bleeding and alone, 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler had just survived a plane crash that killed her family. She had walked through about a mile of woods and thick briar patches, wearing a short-sleeve shirt, shorts and no shoes in near-freezing temperatures when she saw a light in the distance.

The beacon led her to Larry Wilkins’ home, police said, and she knocked on the door. Wilkins answered to find a thin, black-haired girl, whimpering and trembling.

“I come to the door and there’s a little girl, 7 years old, bloody nose, bloody arms, bloody legs, one sock, no shoes, crying,” Wilkins, 71, said Saturday. “She told me that her mom and dad were dead, and she had been in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down.”

Federal Aviation Administration officials arrived at the crash scene Saturday to try to determine why the small Piper PA-34 crashed, killing four people, including the girl’s parents, Marty Gutzler, 48, and Kimberly Gutzler, 46, authorities said.

Also killed were Sailor’s sister, Piper Gutzler, 9; and cousin Sierra Wilder, 14. All were from Nashville, Ill. The bodies have been sent to Louisville for autopsies.

The plane reported engine trouble and lost contact with air traffic controllers around 5:55 p.m. Central Time, authorities said. Controllers had been trying to direct the pilot to an airport about 5 to 7 miles from the crash scene, authorities said.

About 40 minutes later, 911 dispatchers had a call from Wilkins, saying a girl who had been in a plane crash had walked to his home.

Wilkins said he brought the girl inside, got a washcloth and “washed her little face off and her legs.”

“Brave little girl, outstanding little girl,” he said. “I feel real bad for her.”

Sailor had a broken wrist, but was coherent and calm, Kentucky State Police Lt. Brent White said.

White and Wilkins described the terrain she walked through as heavily wooded with thick brush. White said the girl traversed two embankments, a hill and a creek bed. The temperatures were below 40 degrees when the girl showed up at Wilkins’ door.

“She literally fell out of the sky into a dark hole and didn’t have anybody but her own will to live and get help for her family,” White said. “Absolutely amazing.”

Sailor was treated at a Paducah, Ky., hospital and released early Saturday to a relative, Kentucky State Police said.

In Nashville, a man stepped out of the family’s white, split-level home Saturday and politely waved off a reporter. “Not now,” he said, his head lowered, and went back inside.

Neighbors said Marty and Kim Gutzler had lifelong roots in the largely rural southern Illinois town about 50 miles east of St. Louis. Marty ran the furniture store that his father started, and the couple were well-known and well-liked, said neighbor Carla Povolish.

With two basketball hoops in the driveway, the Gutzlers’ home was the center of neighborhood fun on a block full of children. “All the kids in the neighborhood are just so upset about this,” she said.

Povolish said the two sisters — Sailor and Piper — were together constantly. “That’s what’s going to be so devastating for the little one.”

The FAA said late Friday that the plane had taken off from Tallahassee Regional Airport, Fla., and was bound for Mount Vernon, Ill. Patterson said Sailor indicated that the plane had left from Key West, Fla.

Attorney Kent Plotner, serving as Gutzler family spokesman, said the family was devastated. “We ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time. Please pray for us, especially for Sailor Gutzler,” the family said in a statement.