Tenacity of searchers pays off with man’s rescue
A Spring man was found alive, trapped in his crashed car in Montgomery County, more than 96 hours after going missing on his way home from a downtown Houston bar.
Searchers on Sunday tracked the cellphone of 32-year-old Jose Velazquez to a dead end in The Woodlands, where they found him still inside his car. The vehicle was upside down and wedged between thick vegetation near FM 1488 and Texas 242, according to Texas EquuSearch officials.
First responders had to cut away at the brush to get Velazquez out of the vehicle.
“The car just plunged into the woods and nobody could see it if they were driving by,” said David White, of Texas EquuSearch.
The driver was likely heading north on Texas 242 when he careened 100 yards from the intersection, said Sgt. Erik Burse, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Similar crashes have happened at the same intersection at night, he said.
Velazquez was conscious and talking when first responders took him to Memorial Hermann in The Woodlands with severe dehydration and possible bone fractures, according to officials.
His fianceé soon joined him at the hospital, his cousin Tony Velazquez said in a phone call.
“He’s laughing and making jokes,” the relative said, adding that several more of Velazquez’s cousins had joined Texas EquuSearch on Saturday morning to look for their missing loved one.
He believes Velazquez was on
his way to a cousin’s nearby home when he crashed.
Velazquez was last seen early Wednesday morning while walking to his car in the 300 block of Main Street, with Houston police saying he later was likely to head for Freeport to see his family.
A missing persons report was filed on Thursday with the Houston Police Department.
He had a phone with him but did not use it after the crash.
“That’s how we located him,” White said. “The
pings stayed in one place until the phone died.”
White said the crash site was at least 7 to 10 miles from Velazquez’s home.
“We’re very proud of our search team’s efforts, and that’s exactly why we never give up hope,” said Frank Black with Texas EquuSearch.