DAILY NEWS

7-year-old girl survives Kentucky plane

crash that killed family, hikes to find help
Sailor Gutzler showed up bleeding on the doorstep of 71year-old Larry Wilkins' Kentucky home on Friday after the
crash that killed four of her family members. 'Shes a
terribly brave little girl, Ill tell you that,' he says.
BY Thomas Tracy
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, January 3, 2015, 8:16 PM

Nine-year-old Piper (top left) and 7-year-old Sailor

(bottom left) with parents Kimberly and Marty Gutzler. All
but Sailor, 7, died in a plane crash that also claimed
family member Sierra Wilder (not pictured).
She was a living miracle, but something 71-year-old Larry Wilkins never expected to
see: a bleeding and shoeless young girl the lone survivor of a plane crash that killed four of
her family members standing on the doorstep of his Kentucky home, begging for help.
She was bleeding pretty bad, Wilkins told NBC News on Saturday as he recalled how a
terrified 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler showed up on the doorstep.
Her legs were bleeding, her face had a bloody nose, he recalled. She was barefoot ... only
had one sock on.
She told me that her mom and her dad were dead, and she was in a plane crash, and
the plane was upside-down, he said. She asked if she could stay here.

Sailor Gutzler (right), 7, lived up to the saying on her T-shirt:

'You can't stop me.' The little girl made it out after a plane
crash that killed her family Friday in Kentucky.
I said, Honey, what can I do for you? I got a wash cloth and cleaned her up. And of course
called 911.
Sailor appeared at Wilkins home at about 6:30 p.m. Friday nearly 40 minutes after a small
Piper PA-34 plane heading for Mount Vernon, Ill., from Tallahassee, Fla., reported engine

trouble and then lost contact with an air traffic controller, according to Federal Aviation Authority
officials.
Shes the daughter of Marty Gutzler, 49, and Kimberly Gutzler, 45, of Nashville, Ill. Both
were killed when the small plane crashed and flipped in the back woods of southwestern
Kentucky, officials said.
Timothy D. Easley/AP

Larry Wilkins, 71, was stunned when Sailor showed up at

his door after climbing out of the wreckage.
Sailors sister, Piper, 9, and cousin Sierra Wilder, 14, also died in the crash, investigators
said.
Despite the frigid January temperatures and the thick briar- and brush-strewn hillside in
front of her, the little lone survivor hiked three quarters of a mile before spotting Wilkins home.
This girl came out of the wreckage herself and found the closest residence and reported the
plane crash, said Sgt. Dean Patterson of the Kentucky State Police. Its a miracle in a sense
that she survived it, but its tragic that four others didnt.
Timothy D. Easley/AP

Sailor walked three quarters of a mile until she came to

Wilkins' home, nestled in the woods.
Wilkins never heard the crash and was stunned when he learned what had happened to
his young, frightened visitor.
Shes a terribly brave little girl, Ill tell you that, Wilkins told CNN. I cant imagine a 7-year-old
doing that.
Sailor was taken to Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, Ky., and released to a relative early Saturday,
officials said.
Marty Gutzler via Facebook

Piper Gutzler, 9, and her dad, Marty Gutzler, 49, were

killed when their small Piper PA-34 plane crashed in
Kentucky.
State and FAA response teams recovered her familys remains and began their
investigation into the cause of the crash.
A family member at the Gutzlers Illinois home waved away reporters coming to the door
Saturday.
Not now, the man said, his head lowered, before he stepped back inside.
Marty Gutzler via Facebook

Sailor's parents, Kimberly and Marty Gutzler, perished in

the crash.
Neighbors said Marty and Kim Gutzler had lifelong roots in the largely rural southern
Illinois town, which is about 50 miles east of St. Louis.
Gutzler ran a furniture store his father started, and the couple was well-known and wellliked, neighbor Carla Povolish told reporters.
The Gutzlers home was a center of fun on a block full of children, Povolish said.

The small Piper PA-34 plane heading for Mount Vernon,

Ill., from Tallahassee, Fla., reported engine trouble and
then lost contact with an air traffic controller before it
crashed in the woods of Kentucky.
All the kids in the neighborhood are just so upset about this, she said, adding that Piper and
her surviving sibling were inseparable.
Thats whats going to be so devastating for the little one, she said.
With News Wire Services
ttracy@nydailynews.com
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