Highway Patrol said 9-year-old Jordan Landon and her father, Douglas Landon, were in a car accident on Highway 55 near Turkey Quarter Creek Road in Craven County Friday. It was not until Sunday evening that a man walking along the road spotted the overturned 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo where Jordan laid alive in a ditch and called police. Troopers, however, believe a mechanical failure was not involved. Police say the two likely crashed late Friday night, on their way home from a stop at a nearby convenience store in rural Craven County, N.C. Video surveillance from the store captured Landon hugging her father just minutes before their accident. When the two did not arrive home, Jordan's mother, Claudette Leohmann, embarked on her own search on Saturday, but fell short after she crashed her own car less than 100 feet away from the accident site. "I'm sure Jordan could hear the sirens and everything and hear the police talking on the radio and nobody knew she was there," said Butch Morse, Doug's employer and friend. "He was curled up in a ball with his arm right across his chest and his other arm pushed out across Jordan.
– A truly astonishing tale of survival out of North Carolina: A 9-year-old girl managed to survive for more than 43 hours stuck upside down after the car her father was driving crashed. Jordan Landon was trapped by her seatbelt from about 10pm Friday until her Sunday night rescue, reports the Sun Journal. "She ate Pop Tarts and Gatorade while she waited for help," says a sergeant with the NC Highway Patrol. Her father, Douglas, 39, died from his injuries. "He was curled up in a ball with his arm right across his chest and his other arm pushed out across Jordan. He was trying to hold her and trying to keep her protected," says a family friend. Though alcohol is not currently suspected as a contributing factor, police recovered the speedometer, which was stuck at 110mph, reports ABC News. The car "ran off the road to the right and into a steep ditch bank. The car went airborne and was inverted as it hit a cluster of trees," the sergeant explained. A passerby happened to notice the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo while out walking. Police initially believed Jordan was dead, until she managed to make a sound. The story's unbelievably bizarre twist: WCTI reports that Jordan's mother set out on Saturday to look for the pair—and crashed her own car 100 feet from where her daughter was pinned. She survived, but rescuers never spotted Landon's wreck.