A girl lay trapped in a car next to her dead father for two days after a road accident in rural Craven County, North Carolina.
Jordan Landon, nine, survived on Gatorade and pop tarts, after her screams for help were unheard on the isolated road.
Strapped in by her seatbelt, she was left relatively unhurt from the initial accident, which saw the car tip over and skid headfirst into a steep ditch. However the position of the car and the belt held in place next to her father, 39-year-old Doug Landon, who was killed by the crash.
Thought to have occurred at 10pm on Friday night, it was Sunday morning before a man walking alongside the road noticed the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo upside down in the ditch and called the police.
Her mother had reported the pair missing after the father and daughter failed to return from running an errand to the local petrol station.
Police praised the schoolgirl's bravery having survived two nights in the car at freezing temperatures. Sergeant David Clifton told ABC News: "For a nine-year-old to do that it's pretty heroic. She was able to keep herself calm."
"The family member next to her is obviously deceased so that's a lot to deal with, plus being dark at night."
Arriving on the scene, emergency services thought the pair had been killed until they heard a whimper from the frightened girl. It took an hour for rescue teams to free her, despite three fire teams using hydraulic equipment present at the scene.
The car was found with the speedometer jammed at 110mph, with speed believed to be the reason that Landon losing control of the vehicle. Alcohol was not thought to be involved.