
A trucker missing since Tuesday was found in Oregon on Saturday after trekking through 14 miles of snowy wilderness from his stuck rig to his home in La Grande.
22 year old trucker Jacob Cartwright was found by his wife at his home in La Grande, Oregon on April 28th, dehydrated, malnourished, and freezing cold.
The ordeal began on Tuesday, April 24th when Cartwright accidentally entered the incorrect address into his GPS, which directed him to take a turn off Interstate 84 near Pendleton. Cartwright soon realized that he was not in the right place and went to reenter the address correctly, which led the GPS to direct Cartwright onto a US Forest Service Road. The Forest Service Road then eventually transitioned from a paved roadway to an impassable, dirt one, where Cartwright and his rig became stuck.
Stuck on a remote roadway with little to no cell phone service, Cartwright says that, after a while, he locked up his stuck rig and started walking.
“I was just eating snow at the end of the day, just trying to stay hydrated, I didn’t have food and the only animals I saw was mice, that was it, I had no way of starting a fire everything was so soaking wet nothing would spark,” Cartwright said, explaining how he tried covering himself up with pine needles at night to try to stay warm in the 30-degree temperatures.
Search Continues for Missing La Grande Man and OSP is asking for #PublicAssistance
OSP is assisting the Union County Search and Rescue team & Union County SO in locating 22 year old Jacob Aaron CARTWRIGHT, from La Grande. https://t.co/c92M93ObFE pic.twitter.com/wGlDTZIDT2
— Oregon State Police (@ORStatePolice) April 27, 2018
Cartwright hiked through the snowy wilderness for around four days until he finally arrived on the outskirts of his hometown, La Grande, where he was able to hitch a ride to his home from a passing motorist.
Cartwright was inside his house attempting to warm up when his wife arrived home from a meeting with local officials regarding the search for her lost husband.
“She grabbed me and hugged me. She told me she thought I was dead, I told her ‘you ain’t getting rid of me that easily’!” Cartwright said of their reunion.
His wife then took him to a nearby hospital after he complained of “hurting real bad” and being “real cold.” Now, as of Monday, April 30th, Cartwright is still recovering in the hospital.
“I look at it as what don’t kill you makes you stronger,” he said.
“Feels like everything in my body is just about broken.”
Despite his complaints, nurses say that Cartwright is expected to make a full recovery and that things could have been a lot worse.
“He looks to be pretty good. He’s a big boy. He kept moving and stayed warm enough. So it doesn’t look like he’s going to have too many injuries,” explained one of the nurses.
Missing La Grande man Jacob Cartwright found safe. https://t.co/f6DdNUfkCm pic.twitter.com/T7j9HLbY6Q
— Oregon State Police (@ORStatePolice) April 29, 2018
“What it boils down to is a simple matter of human error,” said Roy Henry, Cartwright’s boss at Little Trees Transportation.
“He made the proper effort to correct his mistake. From that point on it was out of his control. [At first] he had no reason to believe the GPS was wrong.”
“It was pretty much just sheer will and determination that got him out.”
Cartwright will make a full recovery and return home to his children, ages two, four, and a third on the way, before going back to work with Little Trees Transportation.
Fortunately, Oregon State Police were able to locate the semi truck after interviewing Cartwright. It was discovered 21 miles away from the last trackable GPS location, perched precariously on a steep embankment.
To top it all off, despite his desperate predicament, Cartwright, who was hauling potato chips at the time of the incident, refused to touch a single bag because he didn’t want to damage the load.
“I’m not going to touch someone else’s product. To me, that’s stealing.”