Girl Found in Ravine Near Dead Mother

aolnews ^ | 4 14 04 | BRUCE HARING,

[freepatriot32]

LOS ANGELES (April 14) - A 5-year-old girl found in a ravine survived on dry noodles and Gatorade while remaining near her dead mother following a car crash more than a week ago, relatives and authorities said.

The girl, apparently uninjured, was identified as Ruby Bustamante, the daughter of Norma Bustamante, 26, of Indio, said Jane Evans, nursing supervisor at Riverside Regional Medical Center. They were reported missing April 4.

California Department of Transportation workers repairing a road barrier Tuesday morning found the girl, her mother's body and a wrecked Ford Taurus 150 feet down a ravine off the 60 Freeway between Moreno Valley and the Banning Pass, said Chris Blondon, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

The car had crashed about 10 days ago, and the girl was hungry and thirsty but unhurt, Blondon said in a statement.

Relatives gathered at the hospital late Tuesday where Evans said Ruby was in stable condition.

Bill Cooney, the girl's great-grandfather, told local TV networks that Ruby told him she survived on ramen noodles and Gatorade. Ruby also said her mother was alive for "a couple days" after the crash, he said.

Cooney criticized the CHP and other authorities for not searching for Bustamante and her daughter when they were first reported missing April 4.

The woman's body was badly decomposed, and the coroner's office did not expect to identify it for several days, said Riverside County Deputy Coroner Rebecca Mendoza.

Banning is about 90 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

04/14/04 04:21 EDT

[freepatriot32]

Ruby also said her mother was alive for "a couple days" after the crash, he said.

can anyone say multi million dollar lawsuit agains the chp

[Akira]

Ugh. I had just read this on FoxNews. How horrible, she had to watch her mom die, then decompose. God bless her.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

May God bless this little girl.

[lawdude]

"can anyone say multi million dollar lawsuit agains the chp
"

Hold your breath.

[freepatriot32]

yeh and can you imagine the smell after ten days im suprised she could eat at all without throwing up

[Lady Jag]

At five years old the child should have been easily able to climb the hill and flag down help.

[spodefly]

Prayers for this little girl.

†

[livius]

Well, unless he gave the CHP some idea of where to look, I'd say his chances of a big settlement are slim.

It's terribly sad, and I feel bad for the little girl, who must have suffered a lot. A very good friend of mine went off a cliff on the California coast and wasn't discovered for days, even though people were actually looking for him. He was found by hikers who had gone down the cliff to the beach.

[kitkat]

Prayers for the little girl.

[newgeezer]

It was big news early this morning, so this had to be a duplicate thread.