Man found alive in ravine by his kids

Associated Press

SANTA CLARITA, Calif.

David Lavau’s children drove slowly along the perilously curved mountain road, stopping to peer over the treacherous drop-offs and call out for their father, missing for six days.

Then, finally, a faint cry: “Help, help.” The voice from the wilderness not only let Lavau’s children find him, it may have brought closure to another family and another missing-persons case.

Close to a week after his car plunged 200 feet into a ravine, Lavau, 68, was rescued Thursday by his three adult children, who took matters into their own hands after a detective told them his last cellphone signal came from a rugged section of the Angeles National Forest.

And near him they found a body in another car that belonged to an 88-year-old man reported missing 10 days earlier.

As Lavau lay injured in the woods next to his wrecked car, he survived by eating bugs and leaves and drinking creek water, a doctor said.

Lavau was in serious but stable condition Friday at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital with three rib fractures, a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm and fractures in his back, said emergency- room physician Dr. Garrett Sutter. He was expected to be released in three to four days after surgery on his shoulder.

Dr. Ranbir Singh, the hospital’s trauma director, said Lavau told him he was driving home about 7 p.m. when he was temporarily blinded by the headlights of an oncoming car. He braked but failed to gain traction. The car flipped and plunged down the embankment.

Lavau said he was unsure if he collided with the car. However, a second car containing a male body was found next to Lavau’s vehicle.

That car was identified as belonging to 88-year-old Melvin Gelfand, whose family had reported him missing Sept. 14, said Los Angeles police Detective Marla Ciuffetelli.

The body found in the car could not be visually identified due to decomposition, but Gelfand’s son-in-law Will Matlack said the family had been contacted by the coroner’s office, which was trying to match fingerprints or dental records to make a positive identification.

“The coroner said it’s 99 percent a sure thing,” Matlack said.