'Nothing short of a miracle': Woman missing in Calif. for 2 weeks survived on pie, rainwater

LOS ANGELES -- San Diego County law enforcement officers are marveling at how a 68-year-old Fullerton, Calif., survived for two weeks in her disabled car on fruit, pie slices and rainwater, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Dianna Bedwell was found Sunday afternoon in a remote area of northeastern San Diego County in the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation after going missing on Mother’s Day. Her husband, Cecil “Paul” Knutson, died.

Their car had become stuck in the soft dirt of a back-country path.

“That she survived is nothing short of a miracle,” sheriff’s Lt. Ken Nelson told the Times. “Even for someone fit and in good health, surviving this long would be difficult. She is elderly and with health problems and yet she made it.”

When found, Bedwell was able to talk long enough to give investigators a clue about how she and her husband went missing.

The couple had spent May 10 at a casino in Valley Center. They left about 2 p.m. to go to their son’s home in La Quinta in Riverside County for dinner. They apparently tried to find a shortcut to their son’s home to avoid the traffic on Interstate 15. Instead they got lost and disoriented.

The San Diego County medical examiner will determine the cause and approximate time of Knutson’s death. At 6 foot 2, 225 pounds, Knutson, a former Marine, was diabetic and dependent on insulin. Bedwell, at 5 foot 3 and 240 pounds, is also diabetic and dependent on insulin.

In the early days of the disappearance, sheriff’s investigators suggested that the couple’s medical condition may have caused them to become disoriented, the Times said.