Dianna Bedwell, 68, and Cecil Knutson, 79, became stranded with little to eat and only rainwater to drink after offroad shortcut in Hyundai sedan went wrong

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A husband and wife stranded for two weeks in southern California’s high desert ate oranges and a pie and drank rainwater they collected in cups, but the 79-year-old man died before they were found, authorities said on Monday.

Off-road drivers found Dianna Bedwell, 68, and the body of her husband, Cecil Knutson, on Sunday afternoon near a Boy Scout camp on the Los Coyotes Indian reservation about 65 miles north-east of San Diego, sheriff’s Lieutenant Ken Nelson said.

Bedwell was not able to tell authorities when her husband had died but an autopsy was being arranged, he said.

Bedwell told authorities they tried to take a shortcut and got lost in the rugged area. Nelson said their 2014 white Hyundai Sonata was obscured by trees and surrounded by brush, making it invisible to helicopters conducting aerial searches.

Knutson’s body was near the car and Bedwell was inside the vehicle, he said.

“They were really off the beaten path. We were really surprised that the vehicle they were driving, a sedan, was even able to get out there,” he said. “It was so rural that it took two weeks for even off-roaders to find them.”

The family asked for privacy in a statement posted on a Facebook page established to help with the search. “Please continue to keep the family in your prayers,” it read.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mike Sutter describes finding the couple missing in desert for two weeks.

Bedwell’s son, Robert Acosta, spoke briefly to the Orange County Register. “I’m just so concerned with my mom right now,” he told the newspaper. “To be in the middle of nowhere for two weeks is a lot given her age.”

Bedwell remained in hospital and had not spoken with authorities beyond an initial 10-minute interview.

The husband and wife, who were diabetic, had last been seen on surveillance footage as they left the Valley View Casino in Valley Center, about 25 miles west of the wilderness camp, on 10 May. Authorities said the two were planning on going to their son’s home in the Palm Springs area for a Mother’s Day dinner but didn’t show up there or return to their Orange county home in Fullerton.

Knutson and Bedwell were both retired school bus drivers and had been married for more than 25 years, the Register reported.

One of the men who found them described how it happened. Mike Sutter told NBC7 TV he was out driving four-wheel vehicles with friends and spotted a sedan parked far from paved roads.

“The driver of our lead vehicle came down and said, ‘You will not believe what’s down there,’ and then he said, ‘Bring water,’” Sutter said.

He added: “Had we been there two days earlier maybe the old guy would be alive. Had we been here two days later, maybe both of them would be dead.”

Bedwell was in the passenger seat of the car and was talking, but dehydrated, he said. “She was a little confused at the time, didn’t know if he was dead or not, was asking us to check him.”

Sutter told the San Diego TV station: “It’s sad all the way around. I’m hoping she’s going to make a full recovery - but she’s going to do it alone.”