A man crawled to safety last night from a car crash that killed his girlfriend three days earlier off of U.S. 50 in Jennings County.

The couple’s SUV left the road on Saturday afternoon, drove down an embankment and struck a tree head-on near the Jennings-Ripley County line, killing 37-year-old Nikki K. Reed and seriously damaging the lower body of her boyfriend 39-year-old Kevin Bell.

State police say the crash was well off the roadway and not visible from the highway.

The two were reported missing on Sunday after their family members had not heard from them since the day before. They were returning from a trip back east where Reed had picked up Bell, who lived in Dover, Penn.

Indiana State Police report that a missing persons investigation had begun for the couple after family members lost contact on Saturday.

Police report that Bell was driving the SUV and Reed was a passenger when the crash happened. Reed was killed instantly and Bell was trapped in the wreckage until he could crawl away and was found at about 5 p.m. yesterday.

He was taken to St. Vincent-Jennings County Hospital and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, says Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, spokesman for the state police.