2001 Ford Escort It seems I may have a broken lifter.

My engine died at a stop light yesterday and now it wont restart. It just stalled out with no major sputtering or anything like that.
I had a couple of friends look at it and it sounded very very rough. One of the spark plugs was loose so that was taken care of right away.
The car attempted to start better after that but still sounded rough.
It was the opinion of the two people I had look at it that a piston rod or lifter was broken and that the car shouldn't be started anymore till it was fixed.

However it seems to me that something that major shouldn't happen on a vehicle with such low mileage.

Does this sound right? How and Why did this happen?