SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) - October 1, 2011
The fates of 68-year-old David Lavau and a man believed to be
88-year-old Melvin Gelfand met at the bottom of the same rugged
ravine, 200 feet below a curvy stretch of mountain road where both
men had lost control of their vehicles and crashed, authorities
said Friday.
It appeared to be sheer coincidence that led the men to end up
in exactly the same spot of the Angeles National Forest some 50
miles north of Los Angeles.
Lavau lived in the ravine for six days, eating bugs, leaves and
drinking creek water to survive, with Gelfand's badly decomposed
body in another car only a few feet away.
Lavau was rescued Thursday by his three adult children, who
searched a highway between their father's home in northern Los
Angeles County and Ventura County, where a detective told them
Lavau's bank and cellphone records had placed him, sheriff's
spokesman Capt. Mike Parker said.
They drove slowly along the mountain road, stopping to peer over
the treacherous drop-offs and call out for their father.
Near him they found a body in a Toyota Camry that belonged to
Gelfand, who had been reported missing on Sept. 14, more than a
week before Lavau's disappearance, said Los Angeles police
Detective Marla Ciuffetelli of the missing persons unit.
"I love my kids. Dead man was not my fault. Love, Dad," read a
note Lavau scrawled on his dusty trunk, his family told the Los
Angeles Times.
Lavau was 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 and to make a full recovery.
"He was very desirous of a lobster taco," Sutter said.
Dr. Ranbir Singh, the hospital's trauma director, said Lavau
told him he was driving to his home 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.
The body found in the other 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.
At the bottom of the ravine, Lavau could hear cars and see their
lights on the road above and was hopeful he'd be discovered, but as
time passed, he grew more uncertain.
Lavau's children had reported him missing last Friday, though
they were not certain when exactly he had disappeared.
"Each family member and friend thought that he was with someone
else,"' Parker said.
Parker said by the next day the sheriff's detective assigned to
the case turned up bank records showing Lavau had made a purchase
in Oxnard in Ventura County, and mobile phone records showed he had
been in the area.
The children then organized themselves into a search party.
"We stopped at every ravine and looked over every hill, and
then my brother got out of the car, and we kept screaming, and the
next thing we heard Dad saying, `Help, help,' and there he was,"
Lisa Lavau told NBC's "Today" show.
Sean Lavau slid down the embankment to reach his father, who was
airlifted to the hospital while firefighters helped his children
get back up the ravine.
Parker said it was "remarkable" the family was able to make
the find in the sparsely populated area about 50 miles north of
downtown Los Angeles.
"We admire this family for doing what they did. You've got to
love them." the sheriff's spokesman said. "I think there was a
higher power involved."
Parker said the fact that the family found their father was no
reflection on the work of the Sheriff's Department, which followed
all the proper procedures for a missing persons case that had no
evidence of foul play.
"What else could we possibly do?" said Parker, pointing out
the speed with which detectives turned up records showing Lavau's
activity. "I was surprised we did as much as we did. I'm glad we
did it."
The California Highway Patrol was investigating the accidents.
Gelfand, a veteran of World War II, simply disappeared, leaving
no clues. How he ended up 50 miles north of Los Angeles in his own
car remains a mystery.
Daughter Joan Matlack said he was supposed to be heading the
other direction toward a casino off Interstate 5 south of Los
Angeles.
"We don't know what happened, but it seemed like he was either
lost or disoriented," Matlack told KCAL-TV, "Because he was in
the complete opposite direction. He went north instead of south."
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Associated Press writers Shaya Tayefe Mohajer, Christina Hoag
and Andrew Dalton contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
