Covenant News

Youth Rescued After 8 Days Trapped in Car

REDMOND, WA (October 11, 2004) - A 17-year-old youth from Creekside Covenant Church was listed in serious condition this morning after her miraculous rescue from her damaged automobile, where she had been trapped for more than a week.

Laura Hatch had been missing since October 2, last seen in Redmond around 11 p.m., according to an Associated Press (AP) report. Police had not conducted an official search, according to Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesperson for the King County Sheriff's Department who was quoted in the Associated Press story.

The parents had hired a private investigator and a search on Saturday, involving some 200 church volunteers organized by the family, proved unsuccessful. One Creekside member, however, reportedly awakened Sunday morning sensing an urgent need to search for the girl, telling reporters she had vivid dreams during the night of a wooded area with the message, "Keep going, keep going." Sha Nohr and her daughter drove to an area along Northeast Union Hill Road where the crash occurred, praying as they went that they would be led to the correct location. She told the AP that "something drew her to clamber over a concrete barrier and more than 100 feet down a steep, densely vegetated embankment where she barely managed to discern the wrecked car in some trees." A passing motorist was flagged down and help was summoned.

The young woman was trapped without food or water. The sheriff's deputy said he does not know how she survived. She was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, dehydrated but with no serious injuries, Urquhart reported, and was listed in serious condition Sunday evening.

More than 100 friends from Creekside joined in a time of celebration Sunday evening – a service that had originally been scheduled as a prayer vigil on Laura's behalf.

More information will be posted to this online Evangelical Covenant Church news report at www.covchurch.org as it becomes available.

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