On Wednesday, May 9, Morehead State University student Daniel Hiser's car was found wrecked, but the student was gone.

"This is very out of character for him," said Linda Hiser, Daniel's mother.

For days on end, search crews and volunteers scattered out in all different directions, on the ground and in the air. Saturday, Hiser's parents put out a passionate plea for their oldest son to come home.

"We're just really, really worried. Daniel, anything can be overcome, just call us."

Saturday night, the family heard a familiar voice calling from a pay phone in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"His father told me he spoke to him about 11:00 that he was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and told him he was ready to come home," explained MSU Police Chief Matt Sparks.

So how did this student end up on a four-day long bizarre road trip that landed him more than 1,400 miles from school and even further from his home in Ohio?

"Talked to lady that was in Laredo, Texas. They picked him up in southern Indiana and took him to Little Rock," Sparks explained.

Chief Sparks explained that Hiser hitch-hiked his way from the Morehead area to southern Indiana. There he caught up with a couple who took him as far as Little Rock, Arkansas, where he hoped on a semi that crossed several more state lines to New Mexico.

"It's the grace of God that something hasn't happened to him on the road," said Sparks.