Amber Pennell, 21 [FOUND SAFE] From Caldwell County, NC

[Grande]

Mother Missing In Caldwell County
UPDATED: 11:48 am EDT August 21, 2008

http://i35.tinypic.com/rh74u9.jpg

LENOIR, N.C. -- Authorities are searching for a missing mother in Caldwell County.

Amber Pennell, 21, was last seen leaving work late Wednesday night. Her husband said she was planning to get gas at the Holiday Superette on Blowing Rock Boulevard in Lenoir, but she never showed up at home afterwards.

Lenoir police, Caldwell County sheriff's deputies and state troopers are all searching for her, and they need the public’s help.

Pennell was last seen driving a white, 1994 Toyota pickup with a blue stripe down the side. The license plate reads G-BAY-CAM.

Anyone with information is asked to call police.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/17254185/detail.html

[Grande]

Searchers On ATVs Look For Missing Charlotte-Area Mother
POSTED: 11:45 pm EDT August 21, 2008

CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. -- Searchers climbed aboard ATVs on Thursday night to comb a rugged area of Caldwell County for a mother missing since Wednesday night.

Amber Pennell left her job at Hannah's Barbecue off Highway 321 in Lenoir about 10 p.m. Wednesday. Pennell's husband said she called him and told him she was going to get gas. Pennell's husband said she never showed up and he called police.

Volunteer firefighters searched areas off the main highway but had not found Pennell by late Thursday night.

The woman's friends posted a sign earlier Thursday outside the restaurant where she works. The sign read, "Let there be light for Amber."

Pennell's friends also handed out flyers on Thursday.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/17260980/detail.html

[Grande]

Caldwell woman reported missing Thursday
By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record
Published: August 23, 2008

LENOIR - The search for a young mother of two continues in the Buffalo Cove area of Caldwell County.

Amber Clark Pennell, 21, was reported missing early Thursday morning by her husband, Mitchell Pennell. The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office, Lenoir Police Department and N.C. Highway Patrol have been searching the area ever since.

The Caldwell Sheriff's Office is treating this as a missing person case and does not suspect foul play, said Detective B.J. Fore.

Pennell's daughter is 3 and her son is 1. "They're not old enough to realize what's going on," said the children's great-grandfather, Lynn Pennell, 77. The extended family has gathered at Amber Pennell's home to support each other. "We're just worried to death. Mitchell's in awful bad shape," said Pennell.

Pennell was last seen leaving work at Hannah's BBQ Wednesday at about 10 p.m., according to authorities. She called her husband before she left and told him she would be stopping at the Holiday Superette to get gas and she would be home, according to a sheriff's office release. She never made it.

Members of law enforcement and the Pennell's family members have been driving and walking the roads in the Buffalo Cove area in search of her. Family members and employees have been spoken to and, at this point, there is no information as to where Pennell may be, authorities say.

"We've interviewed a ton of people and we're going to continue interviewing people today," Fore said.

The Highway Patrol brought in their helicopter to assist in the search and an 18-member ATV team has been patrolling the wooded areas.

Pennell is 5-feet one-inch tall and weighs 120 pounds. She has brown hair and hazel eyes and was last seen wearing a blue blouse, blue jeans and white tennis shoes. She has a tattoo on her left foot that reads "Gracelyn and Cameron."

The vehicle she was last seen driving is a white 1994 Toyota truck with blue stripes on the sides that resemble a Nike swoosh. On the driver's side window is a sticker of a girl stick figure kicking a soccer ball with the name "Gracelyn." A sticker of a boy stick figure hitting a baseball with the name "Cameron" is on the opposite window. A sticker reading "Gracelyn and Cameron's Dad" is on the left side of the truck's tailgate.

The truck's tailgate North Carolina license plate is GBAYCAM.

"We will continue to follow leads and we're working in cooperation with the Lenoir Police Department and Caldwell County fire and rescue squads," said Fore.

Anyone with any information concerning this case is asked to call the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office at (828) 754-1518.

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/content/2008/aug/23/caldwell-woman-reported-missing-thursday/

[Grande]

New clue in search for Caldwell missing mother
11:27 AM EDT on Monday, August 25, 2008
By NewsChannel 36 Staff
E-mail Us: NEWS@WCNC.com

CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. -- Investigators have some new clues in the case of a missing Caldwell County mother.

Amber Pennell disappeared Wednesday night while driving home from work.

Authorities say they have surveillance video of Pennell leaving a Wal-Mart. It’s helping them trace her last known whereabouts as they continue to search for her.

The sheriff's office says the 21-year-old mother of two was driving a pickup truck that she was unfamiliar with. They're afraid she ran off the road.

That vehicle is 1994 white Toyota Tacoma with a blue marking. It has her children's names on it.

Investigators ask if you see it or see Pennell, call the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office at 828-758-2324.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-082508-mw-missingmomsearch.f2b98df.html

[Grande]

http://i35.tinypic.com/2mewqig.jpg

[Grande]

There appears to be 2 Walmarts en route from Hannah's BBQ to the Pennell residence.

It's appx. 17 miles from Hannah's to the Pennell residence on Stone Mountain Rd.

My thoughts and prayers are with Amber's friends and family!!

:1222423:

[Grande]

Driving directions to Stone Mountain Rd
17.3 mi – about 36 mins
"Hannah's BBQ"
Blowing Rock Blvd/US-321

1. Head north on Blowing Rock Blvd/US-321 toward ABC Ct NE 5.7 mi
2. Turn right at NC-268 4.4 mi
3. Slight left at Buffalo Cove Rd 6.0 mi
4. Turn left at Stone Mountain Rd 0.4 mi
5. Turn left to stay on Stone Mountain Rd 0.8 mi

[Grande]

<Snipped> from post #44 by 'Cindy';

"4 dollars worth of gas and was crying when she came in to pay for that gas"

Source: http://www.topix.com/forum/city/lenoir-nc/TR9IBO8Q32AF95DGR/p3

<Snipped> from post #49 by 'Cindy';

"I know Amber personally"

Source: http://www.topix.com/forum/city/lenoir-nc/TR9IBO8Q32AF95DGR/p3

Comments from family members;

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/lenoir-nc/TR9IBO8Q32AF95DGR/p4

[Grande]

Search for missing mom continues
By Steve Lyttle
slyttle@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Friday, Aug. 22, 2008

Searchers plan to fan out again today across a portion of Caldwell County, looking for a 21-year-old mother who hasn't been seen since she left work late Wednesday night.

Amber Clark Pennell hasn't been seen since about 10 p.m. Wednesday, when she left work at Hannah's BBQ in Lenoir, apparently headed home to the Buffalo Cove area of Caldwell County. Her husband, Mitchell, reported her missing about 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

Searchers used ATV's and planes Thursday to look along U.S. 321, the route that Pennell typically uses to return home from work. But authorities say the roadway is heavily wooded and not easy to search.

Police say Pennell was driving a white 1994 Toyota pickup truck with N.C. license tag GBAYCAM.

Pennell is described as a white female, 5 feet 1 and 120 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing blue jeans, a blue blouse with a floral design, and white tennis shoes. She has a tattoo on her left foot with the words “Gracelyn and Cameron.” Those are the names of her children – a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old.

Anyone with information in the case is asked to call the Caldwell County sheriff's office, at 828-758-2324.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:UiHzFqmjmRIJ:www.charlotteobserver. com/100/story/143742.html+%22amber+pennell%22+mitchell&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

[CarolinaKat]

Probably irrelevant but I thought I would correct you just in case. There is only one Walmart between Hannahs and her home. And those 17 miles are full of winding roads with very sharp curves and steep embankments. Hope they find her soon.

[Claudia]

Probably irrelevant but I thought I would correct you just in case. There is only one Walmart between Hannahs and her home. And those 17 miles are full of winding roads with very sharp curves and steep embankments. Hope they find her soon.

Thanks for the info, CarolinaKat, and welcome to HFTM! :happy0207:

[Grande]

Probably irrelevant but I thought I would correct you just in case. There is only one Walmart between Hannahs and her home. And those 17 miles are full of winding roads with very sharp curves and steep embankments. Hope they find her soon.

Thanks CarolinaKat! for some reason Google showed two addy's for Wally World. I did note the rough, hilly terrain... YIKES. Google Earth calculates the trip at about 33 minutes, about 2 minutes for each mile traveled.

Thanks for caring about Amber's well being! I hope resolution comes VERY soon!

[CarolinaKat]

happy to help in any way i can. the walmart is new, and just beside the old one, so they probably still had the old addy listed. i hope they find her soon. the news sounded so grim today.

[CarolinaKat]

shes alive!!!! they found her in her truck in a ravine on highway 321!! heres a link!

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/wcnc-082508-krg-momfound.1136a05b.html

[PinkPony]

shes alive!!!! they found her in her truck in a ravine on highway 321!! heres a link!

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/wcnc-082508-krg-momfound.1136a05b.html


O Thank You God!

I am so happy to see this.


PP

[Nut44x4]

YEAAAAAA!!!!!!!

Mom missing for 5 days found alive in ravine

11:30 PM EDT on Monday, August 25, 2008
CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. -- Search crews on Monday night found a missing mother of two alive in a ravine, where she had been stranded for five days after her car veered off the highway.

Amber Pennell, 21, was reported missing last Wednesday night when she didn't come home from her job at a restaurant in the mountain town of Lenoir, about 75 miles northwest of Charlotte.

Authorities say Pennell's car crossed the center line and veered off Highway 321 north of Lenoir, falling 75-80 feet into a ravine.

Caldwell County Emergency Management workers and sheriff's deputies were searching Monday evening when one of them found her. She was dehydrated but able to talk to rescue workers.

Pennell was pulled up from the ravine in a rescue basket and flown to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

Investigators believe Pennell's car went airborne, and that's why it was hard to see where it left the roadway.

Caldwell County sheriff's deputies have been searching for Pennell since she was reported missing Wednesday. Volunteers had put up missing persons posters all over town, with Pennell's face and description.

Detectives have said they worried Pennell might have crashed on her route home, which is filled with sharp turns and steep cliffs.

Pennell's husband told NewsChannel 36 that his wife suffered a few broken bones, but she was awake and coherent. He said he believes she survived those five days with sheer willpower; her daughter's third birthday is later this week, and Pennell wants to be there for her children.
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-082508-krg-momfound.1136a05b.html
video at site

[Roamer]

Thank you both for the good news!

[Claudia]

Oh, Thank God!

[PinkPony]

CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. -- Rescuers found an injured mother who disappeared five days ago in Caldwell County, N.C. Her truck crashed down a 70-foot ravine.

Amber Pennell, 21, was pinned in her truck for five days after the crash on Highway 321 north of Lenoir, N.C. Rescuers said she suffered from mild hypothermia, dehydration and other serious injuries. She was listed in critical condition Tuesday morning.

They used rope to rappel down the 70-foot gully and put her on a stretcher around 8 p.m. Monday.

Tommy Courtner, director of Caldwell County Emergency Services spotted Pennell’s truck.

"We saw a path in the kudzu, and we cut across. We saw the corner of the truck. And when we hollered down at her, we saw her stick her head out, which was a blessing to all of us," Courtner said.

She disappeared after buying groceries and birthday invitations at a local store for her 3-year-old's upcoming party.

Her husband, Mitchell Pennell, rushed to her side and cried.

"Thank you, Jesus! I knew my baby was alive! I love [the rescuers] so much. They did the best. They didn't give up," he said.



Amber Pennell was missing for five days. More Details


The family cheered as the ambulance left for the hospital. Many described it as a miracle. Rescuers and family gathered in a prayer circle after pulling Pennell out of her truck.

One family member said, "We had a lot of praying going on, a lot of praying; that's what brought her back."

www.wsoctv.com/news/17294954/detail.html

[Grande]

ABC’s Good Morning America to Feature Amber Pennell
Written by Adam Hicks
Tuesday, August 26 2008

Amber Pennell, the Caldwell County mother who was found alive after being missing for five days has been the feel good story of the week, and has caught the attention of many national media sources.

Caldwell County Emergency Medical Services Director, Keith Davenport was on the rescue team that pulled Pennell out of her Toyota pickup truck Monday evening.

Davenport reported that ABC’s Good Morning America will feature a live satellite report from Pennell’s home on Stone Mountain Road tomorrow morning.

Davenport said that the Good Morning America crew is expected to speak with Pennell’s husband, Mitchell Pennell on tomorrow morning’s program.

http://www.goblueridge.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4409&Itemid=1

[grammybears]

Thank goodness. I am glad she is ok.

[Nut44x4]

Missing mom: 'Please, please, let me be found …'

05:01 PM EDT on Monday, September 1, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- Amber Pennell remembers being trapped beneath the dashboard of her husband's pickup truck, her body crunched into an L-shape. Sharp pain pierced her legs and left arm.

The Caldwell County mother of two remembers hearing the whir of a helicopter above the crushed truck.

She couldn't even whisper, she recalls – it was sort of like choking while trying to speak in a dream.

In her mind she remembers praying: “I asked God to please, please let me be found … please, somebody come get me and take me home.”

And they did – after nearly a weeklong search that has drawn attention from national news networks, even “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” relatives say.

Pennell this weekend saw her children and on Saturday for the first time met the people who rescued her from the side of a mountain.

On Sunday, wearing a pink polka dot robe and sipping soup, she met with the Observer as tearful friends streamed in and out of her hospital room.

After numerous surgeries to her legs and arm relatives say she is expected to recover, though she will have to spend time in physical therapy.

Surrounded by balloons and rose bouquets she smiled at gifts sent from friends and a note next to a cross that says simply: “I'm so glad you survived.”

Pennell, 21, called her husband Mitchell just before 10 p.m. Aug. 20 as she clocked out of Hannah's Bar-BQ where she's worked for six years. She stopped by the Lenoir Wal-Mart to get some groceries, got $4 in gas at the Holiday to Go and then headed home.

She can't remember much but recalls seeing a logging truck before wrecking the Toyota Tacoma on U.S. 321 about two miles north of Lenoir.

The Toyota crossed a 30-foot-wide grassy median and two lanes of traffic before hitting an 18-foot embankment. The truck went airborne before plunging down a steep 100-foot ravine draped in kudzu.

State troopers said Pennell was probably speeding but they haven't yet interviewed her. No drugs or alcohol are suspected in the wreck, which was hidden by the embankment and shrouded from searchers for days.

Troopers said there isn't any evidence that Pennell hit another vehicle or animal. And it's unlikely she could have fallen asleep having just left the city limits, they said.

“We really don't know why or what caused her to run off the road like that – there are some things that only she will be able to answer,” State Trooper Cliff Mangum said. “I just wish we could have found her sooner.”

At home, Mitchell Pennell, a correctional officer, scrambled to search for his wife that night – thinking she might have wrecked. Worried co-workers joined by foot the next day.

“Her children are the world to her,” said co-worker Misty Walker. “She would never leave her children.”

While hundreds searched for days – in heat and rain – Pennell remembers lying there, unable to move, wetting her pants and cupping one hand to catch rain to drink. She bit her fingernails down to the skin. There were Hot Pockets she'd just bought somewhere in the cab of the truck, but she couldn't reach them, she told the Observer Sunday.

Pennell didn't realize how close she was to dying.

“I guess if I thought I was that close, I would have died,” she says. “I don't think I ever let myself get to that point.”

Losing her mother at 18 and her father just last year may have played a part.

“I remember when my uncle knocked on my door when my mother died and he said to me – ‘she's not on earth anymore…' I thought to myself , ‘Am going to lose my mind?' ” she says. “No child should ever have to hear that.”

And while lying in the wrecked pick-up Pennell said she kept listening for anything – anyone.

Mostly she could hear her 3-year-old daughter Graceyln's giggle and the sounds of her 1-year-old son Cameron playing over and over in her head.

“I believe with all my heart that things happen for a reason,” Mitchell Pennell said, playing with his wife's hair and reminding her she is beautiful. “This really brings it home.”

Paramedics told the family Pennell probably would have died if she'd been out there one more day. They also said she might have bled to death had she been moved soon after the wreck, said family friend Greg Beucler.

On Sunday, Pennell kept saying she couldn't believe she was in the truck five days. It's like a blur she recalls, but remembering hearing some voices, some people talking a few times, maybe even last Monday when Tommy Courtner was drawn to the kudzu behind the embankment. There he saw tire tracks and followed them to the edge of the ravine. Seeing nothing at first, he turned to leave.

Then he spotted the tip of a chrome fender shining from the bottom of the hole.

“Amber,” he shouted, “can you hear me?”

Moments later she turned her head.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-090108-sjf-amberpennellinterview.33c48fe3.html