Four Others Fatally Injured When Plane Went Down Following Florida Vacation

A seven-year-old girl walked out of the woods in Kentucky looking for help after she survived an accident that fatally injured her parents, sister, and a cousin that were returning from Key West, FL.

The Piper PA-34 the family was aboard went down near Paducah, KY on January 2, according to the Kentucky State Police. They had departed from Key West earlier in the day and stopped in Tallahassee, FL before continuing on towards their home airport in Mount Vernon, IL. CNN reports that the girl sustained only minor injuries and was able to walk out of the woods the nearest home, where she told the resident she had been involved in a plane crash and her parents were dead.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said that air traffic controllers lost contact with the airplane after the pilot reported an engine problem and said he was diverting to Kentucky Dam State Airport. It went down in Lyon County about 10 miles from the airport.

Those fatally injured were identified as Marty Gutzler, 49, his wife Kimberly, 45, and their 9-year-old daughter Piper. The cousin fatally injured was 14-year-old Sierra Wilder. All lived in Nashville, IL. The name of the surviving girl was withheld at the request of the family.

(PA-34 pictured in file photo. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov