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Larry Wilkins looks out in the direction of a plane crash on Jan. 3, 2014, in Kuttawa, Ky.(Photo: Timothy D. Easley, AP)
Federal aviation officials on Sunday were trying to determine what caused a small plane to crash in rural Kentucky — and how a 7-year-old girl was able to walk away from the tragedy that killed her family.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating the crash of a Piper PA-34 near the southwestern Kentucky town of Gilbertsville late Friday. The NTSB scheduled a news conference for Sunday.
Kentucky State Police Sgt. Dean Patterson said the crash's lone survivor, Sailor Gutzler, was the daughter of victims Marty Gutzler, 48, and Kimberly Gutzler, 46, of Nashville, Ill. Also killed were the girl's sister, Piper Gutzler, 9, and a cousin, Sierra Wilder, 14.
"The Gutzler family mourns the loss of Marty, Kim and Piper Gutzler and Sierra Wilder," family lawyer Kent Plotner said in a written statement. "We are devastated by this loss but are confident that they rest in God's loving arms. Please pray for us, especially for Sailor Gutzler."
About a half-hour after the plane reported engine trouble and lost contact with air traffic controllers, a Lyon County, Ky., homeowner called 911 saying a young girl had found her way to his house, police said. Sailor was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and released Saturday.
"This girl came out of the wreckage herself and found the closest residence and reported the plane crash," Patterson said. "It's a miracle in a sense that she survived it, but it's tragic that four others didn't."
Salvage workers bring out part of a Piper PA-34's fuselage, wing, and landing gear from a crash site.(Photo: Timothy D. Easley, AP)
The homeowner, Larry Wilkins, told CNN the young girl had walked three-quarters of a mile in the dark through "very, very rough territory," barefoot except for one sock, and dressed in shorts and no coat.
"She's a terribly brave little girl, I'll tell you that," Wilkins said.
Neighbors of the Gutzler family expressed shock and pain.
"This is a small community where everybody knows everybody, and this will be devastating for the whole town," family friend Patrick Povolish told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Povolish's wife, Carla, told the newspaper the Gutzler home was a center of neighborhood fun on a block full of children. She said the Gutzler daughters, Sailor and Piper, were always together.
"That's what's going to be so devastating for the little one," she said.
Police found the wreckage of the plane in a heavily wooded area. The FAA said the plane had taken off from Tallahassee Regional Airport in Florida and was bound for Mount Vernon, Ill.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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