For two days, as her family and friends searched for her and her elderly companion, an 85-year-old New Brighton woman lay trapped in the wreckage of her friend's car, pinned under his dead body.

Helen McCoy was recovering from her ordeal yesterday in an intensive care unit at Allegheny General Hospital, where she was flown after paramedics and firefighters pulled her from the car off Blockhouse Run Road in rural Daugherty.

"She was very disoriented when they got her out of the car, but apparently she's going to be OK ... she probably wouldn't have survived another day or night," said her son-in-law, Don Eiler, of Beaver Falls.

Her companion, Robert Harris, 73, a family friend from New Brighton, was pronounced dead at the scene, where he had veered off into the woods sometime Monday night.

The two had gone for a drive in the countryside, as they often did, after they stopped for a beer at the Eagles Club in New Brighton.

"Obviously they went joy-riding after leaving the club," said New Brighton Area police Chief Charles Van Fossen. "They went out for a ride."

After searching area roads, Ms. McCoy's daughter, Janet Eiler, and her daughter-in-law noticed flattened vegetation off Blockhouse Run, a road that Mr. Harris had traveled since his youth. About 30 yards into the woods, they found his wrecked Buick at about 11 a.m. Ms. McCoy was conscious and able to talk to paramedics, but didn't know where she was or what happened.

Police had yet to talk to her yesterday.

Mr. Harris, who had often driven her around town and to her medical appointments, was found slumped over her.

A frail amputee who used a wheelchair, she was wedged partially under the dashboard and unable to pull herself from the wreck.

"She told us a while ago that she was trying to get out of there, but there was no way she could have," said her daughter, Ms. Eiler.

Police said they believe there was a charged cell phone in the car but that she couldn't reach it. Mr. Harris' 45-year-old son Russell, however, said his father had left his phone at home and that he didn't believe Ms. McCoy had one with her.

Either way, Russell Harris, of Ohio, said he was grateful that she survived even if his father did not. No one knows how long he lived after the crash, but Russell said paramedics surmised that he suffered some kind of sudden health problem -- possibly a heart attack -- and hit the accelerator.

"My dad kept her warm. She didn't know that he had passed away," said Mr. Harris as he stood on the front porch of his parents' tidy New Brighton home, where he and his sister grew up. "The blessing is that she should be released from the hospital and should be OK."

Chief Van Fossen said Ms. McCoy was confused and suffering from exposure, dehydration and hunger, but did not appear to have any injuries from the crash.

Russell Harris also said her condition was further compromised because she didn't have access to medications she needed for her heart condition following triple-bypass surgery.

Mr. Harris and his wife, Catherine, 73, lived near Ms. McCoy. Mr. Harris had met her about 10 years ago at the Eagles Club in New Brighton. Ms. McCoy's foot had been amputated and she couldn't get around without a wheelchair. Because of that, Mr. Harris drove her places.

She particularly liked taking drives to secluded places in the countryside above New Brighton.

"Helen felt cooped up and she would want to go for a ride," said Russell Harris. "She didn't want to just stare at the same four walls all the time. Knowing my dad, he would never turn her down if she wanted to go for a ride. My dad would have wanted to make her happy."

Robert Harris, a retired telephone repairman who had once been a stock-car driver, knew every road in the area and was particularly familiar with Blockhouse Run.

"There are a lot of memories on that road," said Russell. "They used to drag race on that road for years."

On Monday night, Mr. Harris had dropped Ms. McCoy off at the Eagles Club, then went home briefly before returning there.

Catherine Harris had dozed off and didn't think anything of her husband's absence when she woke up later that night.

But when she woke up again at 4 a.m. and he wasn't home, she called his cell phone. He had left it at the house. After more calls, she realized that Ms. McCoy was also not home and grew worried.

A search began and intensified as the days went by. After the family and police appealed to the media, numerous false alerts surfaced, including one that placed the pair in Harmarville.

But police said those were false alarms and that the two never left the New Brighton area.

Yesterday morning, Spike Miller of Daugherty was driving down Blockhouse Run when he said two women flagged him down.

"They said, 'We need a hammer, we need to break a window,' " he said.

They had found the wreck but the windows were sealed and they couldn't open the doors.

Mr. Miller had a hammer in his truck. A firefighter who responded to the scene drove up and Mr. Miller gave him the hammer, which the firefighter used to shatter the rear window and let some air into the car.

Firefighters and paramedics wedged open the door and pulled the pair out.

Russell Harris said the waiting without knowing what happened was hardest on the families.

"You do feel damned helpless," he said.