CAMPBELLTON, Ala. -- A missing woman was found trapped, but alive in her vehicle after being reported missing for three days in Alabama.Robin Fancher had been seen leaving her apartment on Friday in Headland. The missing person's report said she was heading for the post office.A man who wishes to remain anonymous told WDHN he discovered the vehicle in a ditch in the town of Campbellton late Monday morning. "I came back down here and waited, but there wasn't anything I could do," said the man. She was so far down in that ditch.According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, it is believed Robin Fancher had crashed into the ditch days before, but her car was not easily visible from the road. "The county came and the county even went by twice, two or three times actually, went up, turned around and came back by across the bridge again," explained the man who found her.Once first responders reached the scene, the process of safely removing Fancher presented several challenges. "The main challenges were going to be where the car was and where the victim was pinned against the driver's door," said Dothan Fire Battalion Chief Pete Web. "It was off the road and it was difficult to get the car to pull around her. "It took at least five first responder agencies well over an hour to free Fancher and get her to a hospital.At last report, Fancher was responsive and alert.<doc-sep>A missing Alabama woman was found alive in a wrecked car after reportedly being there for days. (Google Maps) Missing Alabama Woman Robin Fanche Found Alive in Car A missing Alabama woman was found alive in a wrecked car after reportedly being there for days. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency issued a statement on April 22 about the discovery of Robin Fancher. A passerby discovered the vehicle at around 12:30 p.m., and “it is believed that the crash occurred several days ago, but was not easily visible from the roadway,” Dothan First reported. Fancher was reported missing on April 20 by family members, and she was last seen leaving a home in Headland, Alabama, on April 17. “Fancher, who was entrapped in the vehicle, was transported to a local hospital for treatment of her injuries. Nothing further is available as Alabama State Troopers continue to investigate,” officials said in a statement to Dothan First. The Associated Press reported that crews from five agencies worked for more than an hour to free the woman, who suffered multiple injuries but was communicating with rescuers. Officials haven’t said how Fancher survived inside the vehicle, but Dothan Fire Battalion Chief Pete Webb said she was pinned against the door of her Mitsubishi sedan, AP reported. An unnamed family member said she suffered a variety of injuries, reported the Dothan Eagle. Other details about the case are not clear. Before being found today, Robin Fancher was last seen about 10 a.m. Wednesday. Posted by al.com on Monday, April 22, 2019 Traffic Deaths Down U.S. traffic deaths fell 3.1 percent in the first six months of 2018, according to preliminary figures released in October 2018, Reuters reported. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that 2017 traffic deaths fell by 1.8 percent to 37,133 after traffic deaths rose sharply in the previous two years, according to final figures. The U.S. traffic fatality rate fell to 1.08 deaths per 100 million miles traveled for the first half of 2018. The fatality rate in 2017 was 1.16 million deaths per 100 million miles traveled—the second highest rate since 2008. “This is good news and bad news,” said Deborah Hersman, CEO of the National Safety Council, CNBC reported. “The total number of fatalities is not getting worse, but the situation is not getting better.” Hersman cited distracted driving and higher speed limits for the number. “There are a number of states that have raised speed limits, some now have stretches at 80 or 85 miles per hour,” she said in the CNBC report. In Texas, for example, she estimated that traffic fatalities jumped 7 percent from 2015 to 2017, in part due to higher speed limits in the state. “We know it’s happening even though distracted driving data is hard to come by,” she said of drivers using smartphones while behind the wheel. “Police reports on accidents often don’t report if the driver was distracted and in many accidents, people don’t self-report themselves.” Missing Children There were 464,324 missing children reported in the FBI’s National Crime Information Center in 2017, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children . Under federal law, when a child is reported missing to law enforcement they must be entered into the database. In 2016, there were 465,676 entries. “This number represents reports of missing children. That means if a child runs away multiple times in a year, each instance would be entered into NCIC separately and counted in the yearly total. Likewise, if an entry is withdrawn and amended or updated, that would also be reflected in the total,” the center noted. In 2017, the center said it assisted officers and families with the cases of more than 27,000 missing children. In those cases, 91 percent were endangered runaways, and 5 percent were family abductions. About one in seven children reported missing to the center in 2017 were likely victims of child sex trafficking.<doc-sep>
Robin Fancher vanished during a trip to the post office on April 17 and was found days later in her wrecked car that had tumbled into a ditch Robin Fancher was found alive in her car wreck 5 days after she went missing. Robin Fancher was found alive in her car wreck 5 days after she went missing. An Alabama woman was found alive in her wrecked car in a highway ditch on Monday, five days after she vanished during a trip to the post office, reports say. Family members reported Robin Fancher missing on Saturday — three days after she was last seen heading to a post office in a Mitsubishi sedan, according to the Associated Press. Around 12:30 p.m. on Monday, a passerby spotted her car in the ditch off the road. Fancher is now in the hospital with multiple injuries, the AP reported. “I come back down here and waited, there really wasn’t anything I could do. She was so far down there in the ditch,” the unidentified good Samaritan told WDHN, noting that the car was barely visible from the road. “The county even went by twice, two or three times actually, went up, turned around and went back by across the bridge again. They didn’t see her when they came by looking.” Authorities told WDHN that they believe Fancher crashed into the ditch on County Road 203 at the Limestone Creek Bridge several days ago. First responders found her trapped inside her car, according to the station. “The main challenges were going to be where the car was and where the victim was pinned against the driver’s door,” Dothan Fire Battalion Chief Pete Webb told WDHN. “It was off the road, and it was difficult to get the car to pull around her.” She was last seen leaving Greentree Apartments in Headland to go to the post office and was believed to be in the Rehobeth area during her days-long absence, according to WISH.