The Indiana man who survived six days pinned inside his mangled truck amid freezing temperatures last month has detailed his harrowing experience, telling NBC News he tried to kill himself but couldn’t as he survived off rain water.
Matthew Reum, 27, said he crashed his truck just days before Christmas while he drove on Interstate 94 in a sparsely populated area of northern Indiana.
Reum told NBC he was on his way to his best friend’s funeral when an animal—likely a deer—ran onto the interstate, forcing him to swerve and lose control of his truck. He said his vehicle crashed and he blacked out, with the truck coming to a final stop underneath a bridge, next to a creek.
![Side-by-side photos of a mangled truck that crashed in northwest Indiana.](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/VF3DULCPLVODDPTZDJLGJTP4TM.jpg?auth=95ca42567499a13b1c515fad790d95d9776c46970bac02fa85b7a4e30aea136d&width=800&height=450)
The site where Matthew Reum’s truck came to a rest, hidden from view under the interstate.
Indiana State PoliceReum was miraculously saved on Dec. 26 after a pair of fisherman spotted the metal of his truck glistening as the sun set. They approached the mangled vehicle and discovered what they feared to be a dead body, but Reum reacted when he was touched.
“When they showed up, I thought I was hallucinating,” Reum told NBC.
An official from the Indiana State Police said in December that Reum likely wouldn’t have survived another night in the frigid weather had the fisherman not spotted him, adding, “It’s a miracle he’s alive.”
Reum agrees it’s a miracle. He described how torturous his days trapped in the truck were, saying he could hear the constant flow of traffic above him, occasional voices from a nearby trailer park, and even sirens, but the emergency vehicles weren’t traveling to him. The short days of winter blended into night, and he quickly lost track of how long he’d been stranded.
Reum said he had a phone in the truck, but it was wedged on the other side of his dashboard, out of reach. He screamed for hours but nobody heard his pleas.
“I would yell and nothing,” he said.
Reum told NBC he often thought about his recently deceased best friend, and said a voice in his head was telling him to give up and kill himself. He said that feeling is “something I don’t wish on anybody to ever have to go through.”
On the evening Reum was saved by Mario Garcia, 60, and his son-in-law Nivardo Delatorre, 31, authorities said the temperatures at the crash site had dipped as low as 29.
Reum told NBC he survived by funneling rain water from his truck’s sunroof and using his sweatpants to get the water to his mouth. He had nothing to eat while stranded.
![Mario Garcia and his son-in-law Nivardo Delatorre speak during a press conference.](https://www.thedailybeast.com/resizer/v2/UUWFVTKYE5N3TDD4T6BZRU3AOQ.png?auth=91222d51ed1711cdabfc0d75fcba5b6a7549c0673a5a75796d103faa6efbe049&width=800&height=406)
Mario Garcia, left, and his son-in-law Nivardo Delatorre, right, speak during a news conference.
Indiana State PoliceOnce Garcia and Delatorre found Reum, he wasn’t out of the woods just yet. He was in critical condition and his rescue took hours. Once authorities freed him from the vehicle, Reum was immediately flown by helicopter to a hospital, where he had a leg amputated above his shin.
“I get in the helicopter, and my brain’s like, you made it—you’re alive,” he told NBC. “It still took me a couple days even after that to realize the full reality of everything.”
Reum’s other injuries included a second broken leg that’s expected to heal, as well as a broken hand. A GoFundMe fundraiser to help with his medical bills had raised over $100,000 by Monday.
Reum appeared to be in good spirits despite the life-altering event, telling NBC News that he’s just happy to be alive and to have a new friendship with Garcia and Delatorre, whom he’s remained in daily contact with since his rescue.
“It’s always amazing to see them,” Reum said of his rescuers. “And I don’t think that even in 20 years, my thoughts on that’ll change.”