9-year-old girl trapped in car for almost 2 days after wreck

Cove City - A nine-year-old girl was found alive Sunday after being trapped in a wrecked car for more than 40 hours, surviving on Pop-Tarts and Gatorade.

According to the Associated Press, Jordan Landon of Cove City, North Carolina, was found by a passer-by late Sunday afternoon after a single-car crash killed Jordan's father and pinned her in the twisted wreckage for nearly two days. After being cut out of the upside-down 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the girl was airlifted to a nearby hospital where, according to her mother Claudette Leohmann, "Jordan was recovering but was very upset about the loss of her father." Killed was 39-year-old Douglas Landon, said North Carolina Highway Patrol. According to the police, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo was found in a culvert upside down and believed to have crashed Friday night on their way to a store. Calling the young girl "heroic," Sgt. David Clifton told the press that Jordan was talkative and expected her to make a full recovery despite being trapped and enduring the dark and cold. During the initial investigation, police found the car's speedometer was stuck on 100 mph plus. In an interview with WCTI-TV, Landon's employer and friend Butch Morse said he found it hard to believe Landon was going that fast. "He wasn't speeding, there is no way in God's green earth he was speeding," said Morse. Kevin Brinson, also a friend of Landon, believed the driver was trying to protect his daughter in his final moments, telling the local TV station, "He was curled up in a ball with his arm right across his chest and his other arm pushed out across Jordan. He was trying to hold her and trying to keep her protected, he was a good father."