Barbara and La’Myra Briley – Trapped in a frozen forest

Time stranded: 4 days

Distance traveled: Stationary

Terrain types: Forest

Deaths: 0

Situation ended: Found by property owner

Location: Dinwiddie County, Virginia

Four days may not sound like a long time to be stranded, but when you are 71 and looking after a 5-year-old in a survival situation it seems much longer. The story starts when 71-year-old Barbara Briley tried to drive from New Jersey to North Carolina to visit some relatives for the Christmas holidays, taking along her 5-year-old great granddaughter La’Myra.

It was Late December and the roads were filled with snow and ice, and since it was such a long drive she had no choice but to do most of it in the dark. At one point along the route she realised she was lost and stopped for gas and to ask directions. She was seen on CCTV entering a gas station at 5:40pm on a Saturday and leaving just before 6pm after spending some time with the clerk who showed her directions on his GPS.

It seems there was a communications error and at some point along the journey Barbara turned down a small country road in Dinwiddie County, Virginia and continued on until she ran over a small tree were her car got stuck.

They decided the best thing to do would be to wait it out until another car came by, and since they weren’t dressed for harsh winter weather and Barbara didn’t want to risk taking a 5-year-old outside, they stayed in the car and patiently waited for help. The only problem was that the road they had turned down was a private road and even though they were only about 1 mile from a paved road, they didn’t know this and thought staying put would be the best chance to get rescued.

Several days passed and not a single vehicle came down the road, and by now they were in a desperate situation. Water wasn’t a problem as they brought drinks with them and could melt snow by putting it inside a container in the car, but the small amount of snacks they had brought had now run out. Barbara’s energy had been completely sapped by the weather and lack of food, and she now couldn’t walk the mile trip to the paved road even if she knew it was there.

Fortunately her family were expecting them and after a few hours had passed after the time they were supposed to arrive and with no one being able contact the pair, their family raised the alarm and reported them missing. The response was swift with numerous search teams checking guard rails for crashes and helicopters sweeping woodland areas.

One of the search helicopters actually flew close enough to them to be able to see the car, but the thick woodland blocked their view and it passed by. Police checked the gas station footage and various businesses but nothing gave them a decent lead on her location. The issue was that no one expected her to turn down the road she did as it seemed quite an unlikely choice.

It wasn’t until Wednesday just before 5 pm that the owner of the property they were on drove down the road and came across the vehicle, upon getting out to inspect he saw an unconscious Barbara and a surprisingly lively La’Myra. He recognized them from the news and immediately called 911 who dispatched police and an ambulance.

The pair were taken to hospital and Barbara was admitted as a serious condition patient due to her loss of consciousness. After a short stay with some good food and nutrients, she was back on her feet, and since she had been giving La’Myra the bulk of the supplies the happy little 5-year-old was completely unharmed from the ordeal, Barbara has since made a full recovery.