Ruby Exits Hospital After a 10-Day Canyon Ordeal

As Ruby Bustamante left the hospital Thursday afternoon, she smiled to applause, waved to the cameras and enjoyed a third serving of hospital-issued ice cream.

The little girl from Indio was described by family members as “one in a million” after surviving 10 days in rural Riverside County after a car wreck killed her mother and left the 5-year-old stranded in a deep canyon off the 60 Freeway and miles from the nearest city. She was rescued from the area known as the Badlands on Tuesday morning.

Two days later, she flashed a smile as she was wheeled out of Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley and into the backseat of a relative’s car. Asked how she was feeling, she answered, “OK.”

A doll kit and a bright blue stuffed animal were waiting for her in the car. “She’s just been eating ice cream, and she’s just been real happy about going home,” said an aunt, Carol Morin.

Ruby will live with her grandparents in Indio, family members said. Hospital officials had said Ruby suffered only bumps, bruises and minor cuts in the crash that killed Norma Bustamante, 26, but they said Thursday that she had a right knee fracture and a finger injury that required minor surgery.

Family members called Ruby’s departure “a joyous occasion” tempered by “sadness, because now we need to make burial arrangements for Norma.” The funeral, for a mother of six, is scheduled for Tuesday in Indio.

“Ruby is not the only child affected by this tragedy,” Rose Lopez, another aunt, said Thursday. “There are five other children who have also lost their mother.”

Many family members have aimed sharp criticism at the search effort by Indio police and the California Highway Patrol after relatives reported the two missing. The CHP is reviewing its one-officer search of the area after an accident report by a witness April 4.

The CHP review will focus on “what we did, when we knew it, and when we did what we did,” said CHP spokesman Tom Marshall.

Family members had cut short a Wednesday news conference, angered that “an innocent little child was left alone for 10 days,” as one said.

“The family will have more to say next week ... but we need to put [the dispute] aside for now because Norma’s funeral is our immediate concern,” Lopez said Thursday.

Officials familiar with the crash said Ruby and her mother were sitting unbuckled in the front seats of a 1998 Ford Taurus and that Norma, who suffered fatal blunt-force trauma and liver lacerations, was probably ejected as the car plunged down a steep slope.

Relatives said Thursday that Ruby huddled next to Norma’s lifeless body each night to sleep. An official familiar with the ordeal said Ruby lay on a jacket next to her mother, who was found in a “fetal, cradling” position.

Medical personnel who first reached Ruby said she had been without liquids for at least three days, an emergency official said.

Although it’s known that Ruby survived only on Top Ramen and Gatorade, family members say they’ve avoided discussing the crash and ensuing days with her right away.

Inundated by calls from people asking to help, the family has established a fund. Donations can be mailed to the Ruby Bustamante Benevolent Fund, Riverside County’s Credit Union, P.O. Box 908, Riverside, CA 92502, or donors may call (909) 571-5365.

Asked how she believed Ruby stayed alive, Lopez replied, “First of all, God, and the prayers by the family. We’re a tough family.”