Laura Wright 
Charles Peck was a customer service agent on September 12, 2008. He worked at Delta Airlines in Salt Lake City, but returned from an interview with Van Nuys in Los Angeles. He wanted to move to California to be closer to his fiancée. The 49-year-old had three grown children and prepared for his second marriage.
The Metrolink commuter train carried 224 other passengers. They traveled through the San Fernando Valley, but at 4:22 p.m., the passenger train collided with a freight train. The resulting destruction left 135 injured and eventually 25 dead.
Reach Out and Touch Someone
Peck began calling relatives almost immediately, but all they heard was static when they answered. If they returned the call, it went straight to voicemail. They knew he had to be alive somewhere in the wreckage.
They contacted searchers as the calls continued. Peck tried to contact his son, his stepmother, his brother, his fiancée, and everyone closest to him. Every relative had the same experience if they answered, as well as if they tried to call back. Everyone hoped he was just unable to get the searchers’ attention, due to injury or debris. Information on the persistent calls prompted searchers to continue looking as hour after hour passed.
Answers
The searchers finally located Peck twelve hours after the crash, but the discovery only brought more question. Peck had died upon impact. His relatives reported the calls came for eleven hours after the crash, when they abruptly stopped.
Even More Confusion
What is most perplexing is that the searchers never located Peck’s cell phone. Relatives eventually reported they received a total of 35 phone calls from the deceased man’s number for eleven hours after his death.
