The beacon led her to Larry Wilkins’ home, police said, and she knocked on the door. Wilkins answered to
find a thin, black-haired girl, whimpering and trembling.

"I come to the door and there’s a little girl, 7 years old, bloody nose, bloody arms, bloody legs,
one sock, no shoes, crying," Wilkins, 71, told The Associated Press on Saturday. "She told me
that her mom and dad were dead, and she had been in a plane crash, and the plane was upside down."

Federal Aviation Administration officials arrived at the crash scene Saturday to try to determine why the
small Piper PA-34 crashed on Friday evening, killing four people, including the girl’s parents, Marty
Gutzler, 48, and his wife, Kimberly Gutzler, 46, authorities said.

Also killed were Sailor’s sister Piper Gutzler, 9; and cousin Sierra Wilder, 14. All were from Nashville,
Illinois. The bodies have been sent to Louisville for autopsies.

The plane reported engine trouble and lost contact with air traffic controllers around 5:55 p.m. CST,
authorities said. Controllers had been trying to direct the pilot to an airport about 5 to 7 miles from
the crash scene, authorities said.

About 40 minutes later, 911 dispatchers received a call from Wilkins, who reported that a girl who had
been involved in a plane crash had walked to his home.

Wilkins told the AP he brought the girl inside, got a washcloth and "washed her little face off and
her legs."

"Brave little girl, outstanding little girl," he said. "I feel real bad for her."

The girl had a broken wrist, but was coherent and calm when interviewed by authorities, Kentucky State
Police Lt. Brent White said.

White and Wilkins described the terrain she walked through as heavily wooded with thick brush. White said
the girl traversed two embankments, a hill and a creek bed. The temperatures were below 40 degrees when
the girl showed up at Wilkins’ door.

"She literally fell out of the sky into a dark hole and didn’t have anybody but her own will to live
and get help for her family," White said. "Absolutely amazing."

The girl was treated at Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, Kentucky, and released early Saturday to a relative,
Kentucky State Police said.

In Nashville, a man stepped outside the family’s white, split-level home on Saturday and politely waved
off a reporter.

"Not now," he said, his head lowered, before he stepped back inside.

Neighbors said Marty and Kim Gutzler had lifelong roots in the largely rural southern Illinois town about
50 miles east of St. Louis.

Marty ran the furniture store that his father started, and the couple was well-known and well-liked, said
neighbor Carla Povolish.

With two basketball hoops in the driveway, the Gutzlers’ home was the center of neighborhood fun on a
block full of children.

"All the kids in the neighborhood are just so upset about this," she said.

Povolish said the two sisters — Sailor and Piper — were together constantly.

"That’s what’s going to be so devastating for the little one," she said.

The FAA said late Friday that the plane had taken off from Tallahassee Regional Airport, Florida, and was
bound for Mount Vernon, Illinois. Kentucky State Police Sgt. Dean Patterson said the girl indicated that
the plane had left from Key West, Florida.

Attorney Kent Plotner, who was serving as family spokesman, said the Gutzler family was devastated by the
loss.

"We ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time. Please pray for us, especially for
Sailor Gutzler," the family said in a statement.

___

AP reporter Jim Suhr contributed from Nashville, Illinois. Adrian Sainz reported from Memphis, Tennessee.