'Quite Frankly, It's A Miracle': Indiana Fishermen Find Victim Days After Crash

PORTAGE, IND. — A 27-year-old Indiana man who was involved in a car crash near Portage and had been trapped inside his vehicle for nearly a week was found alive by two fishermen scouting for places to fish on Tuesday, Indiana State Police said.

The driver was identified as Matthew R. Reum of Mishawaka, Ind., and was taken to Memorial Hospital in South Bend with potentially life-threatening injuries, police said on Tuesday night.

Reum was discovered by the two fishermen along Salt Creek near the Portage exit of Interstate 94 at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday, police said. In a news release, police said that one of the fishermen reached inside the Dodge Ram truck, believing the driver to be dead.

But Reum turned his head and began speaking to the two fishermen and told them that he had been involved in the crash on Dec. 20, but was unable to reach his cell phone to call for help, police said at a news conference.

“Quite frankly, it’s a miracle that he’s alive,” Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Glen Fifield told reporters at the news conference, adding, “It could have been much different circumstances."

Fifield said the recent mild temperatures likely allowed the driver to survive as long as he did. One of the fishermen, Mario Garcia, told reporters that he and the other fisherman found the Dodge Ram partially in the creek under the I-94 bridge over Salt Creek. Fifield told the Associated Press that Reum survived the ordeal by drinking rainwater.

Haley Traxler, a good friend of Reum's, has started a GoFundMe effort that as of Wednesday, has raised more than $13,000. She wrote that Reum suffered several broken bones in the crash and that his legs were stuck, which prevented him from moving. She wrote that amputation is likely for Reum, who is an employee of Boilermakers Union 374 out of South Bend.

A spokesman for the union, Brad Sievers, said that he was able to speak with Reum on Tuesday night and characterized him as a "positive, kind and energetic person." He said that a portion of Reum's left leg was amputated on Wednesday morning around his mid-shin down.

"He is alive and that’s what we care about most through this hard time he needs all the love and support he can get," Traxler wrote. "He is the most kind-hearted human I’ve ever met (and) would do anything for you even if he barely knew you or at all."

Garcia said that the truck was “mangled” and tough to identify but said that his curiosity got the best of him. Garcia said that he and his friend were on their last potential fishing spot after walking the creek when they stumbled upon the wreckage from the crash.

Garcia said he moved the airbag to discover Reum. Garcia said Reum then turned and began speaking.

“That almost killed me there,” Garcia told reporters on Tuesday night. “It was very shocking.”

He added: “That scared me pretty much because I thought we had someone who had lost his life ... One more day and things could have been very different.”

Garcia said Reum told him he had been there for the past six days and had tried yelling for help, but that no one heard him. Garcia said that he could understand how Reum’s truck went undetected before he and the other fisherman found him.

The police spokesman said that investigators determined that Reum was traveling west on I-94 when the truck left the expressway, missed the guardrail, and then went airborne down into the creek area. Investigators believe that the truck flipped several times and landed on the other side of the creek, which is approximately 30 feet wide.

Police said that there were no reports of a crash and that there would be no way that someone walking over the bridge would have ever seen the truck. The union spokesman said that Reum's toughness got him through the ordeal.

"We will continue to pray for and support our brother as he begins his recovery," Sievers said in a statement issued by the union. "We thank God Matt is still with us."

Garcia said that Reum had scratches on his face and body from the crash and that he had been fighting to stay alive. Reum repeatedly thanked the two fishermen for their assistance and for getting help. The police spokesman said extrication efforts took a long period due to the heavy damage sustained to the truck in the crash.

“I’m glad we found him in time,” Garcia said. “He was at the last bit of it.

“I don’t know what to call it. A miracle?”

The fishermen called 911 and first responders responded and airlifted him to South Bend. Garcia said that he is glad that he and his fishing partner stumbled upon the crash, knowing that had they not made the discovery, Reum may not have survived.

“You have to live with that,” Garcia said. “I’m just glad we were at the right place at the right time.”

Police said that there were no reports of a missing person, which made the two fishermen’s discovery even more important. With the changing weather and temperatures getting colder, police officials said that another day could have led to a different story.

The two men said that they don't consider themselves heroes, but instead are grateful that they chose to do some exploration into their discovery of the crash survivor, who police say has a long road to recovery due to the severity of his injuries.

Nivardo De La Torre, the other fisherman, said, “We were put there for a reason.”