Not surprised at all. I have friends that work on our infrastructure. You don't want to know what they know.

I wish we had some sort of system -- maybe big red flags that can be hung from any window? -- that could signal "I NEED HELP" -- without depending on any technology at all.

We too often assume everyone has a med-alert button, that every pulled-over car has a healthy driver inside with a working phone/cell coverage and a triple-A membership.

There's nothing that beats actually checking. Maybe think about knocking on some doors tomorrow morning?