'Nothing short of a miracle': Missing woman survived in her car for two weeks on fruit and rainwater

A 68-year-old California woman remains hospitalised as San Diego County law enforcement personnel continue to marvel at how she survived for two weeks in her bogged car on fruit, pie slices and rainwater.

Dianna Bedwell was found on Sunday afternoon in a remote area of northeastern San Diego County in the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation after going missing on Mother's Day. Her husband, Cecil "Paul" Knutson, 79, died.

Their car had become stuck in the soft dirt of a little-used back-country path.

"That she survived is nothing short of a miracle," said sheriff's Lieutenant Ken Nelson. "Even for someone fit and in good health, surviving this long would be difficult. She is elderly and with health problems and yet she made it."

Dehydrated and lapsing in and out of consciousness, Bedwell was airlifted to hospital in Escondido. She was able to talk long enough to give investigators a clue about how she and her husband went missing. She also talked on the phone to relatives.

The Fullerton couple - both retired bus drivers - had spent the morning and early afternoon of May 10 at a casino in Valley Centre. They left about 2pm to go to their son's home in La Quinta for dinner.

They apparently tried to find a shortcut to their son's home to avoid the traffic. Instead they may have gotten lost and disoriented.