As officials continue to search for a 9-month-old boy who went missing during last weekend's deadly flood in Bucks County, loved ones and community members gathered Sunday night to honor the victims.
A memorial service was held at the Garden of Reflection 9-11 Memorial in Yardley, Pennsylvania, for Katheryn "Katie" Seley, 32, and Matilda Sheils, 2, of Charleston, South Carolina; Enzo De Piero, 78, and Linda De Piero, 74, of Newtown; Yuko Love, 64, of Newtown; and Susan Barnhart, 53, of Titusville, New Jersey.
During the service, attendees lit torches in honor of the victims and left flowers by their names while the Council Rock South High School Choir performed.
The service occurred as officials continue to search for Conrad Sheils, the 9-month-old boy who was swept away during the flood. The boy's mother, Katie Seley, was found dead last weekend in Upper Makefield while the body of his sister Matilda was recovered in the Delaware River on Friday.
Upper Makefield Township police said in a Facebook post Sunday that while Matilda had been “brought home to her loving family” after her body was recovered Friday, officials are “devastated that we have not yet been able to reunite Conrad with his sister and family."
Hundreds of people including search and rescue teams, marine units and police and fire personnel have scoured the area with the aid of "K-9s, sonar, drones, boats, divers, heavy equipment, GPS mapping and air units," police said, adding that they were now at the point that “our search will be dependent upon the conditions of the river.”
Authorities have centered their efforts on an area near where the creek that flooded enters the Delaware River, and plan to use divers there when possible and also put K-9 units on islands in the river as water levels recede. Agencies to the south will also be checking their sections along the river, police said.
“We have no words to describe how we are feeling except truly heartbroken. But, the pain we feel is nowhere near what these families have been through,” the police statement said, vowing to the missing boy “we will never stop until we can bring you home."
The girl's body was found early Friday evening in the river near a Philadelphia wastewater treatment plant about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where she was carried away, authorities said Friday night. The Philadelphia medical examiner on Saturday completed an investigation and “ruled that Matilda Sheils’ cause of death was drowning and the manner is accidental,” a spokesperson for the office said.
The family from Charleston, South Carolina, was visiting relatives and friends in the area and were on their way to a barbecue on the evening of July 15 when their vehicle was hit by a “wall of water” from Houghs Creek, according to Upper Makefield Fire Chief Tim Brewer.
The children’s father, Jim Sheils, grabbed the couple’s 4-year-old son, while their mother, 32-year-old Katie Seley, and their grandmother, Dahlia Galindez, grabbed the other children, Brewer said. Sheils and the older boy made it to safety, but Seley and Galindez were swept away along with the younger children. The grandmother survived but the mother perished.
Galindez spoke about the harrowing ordeal during Sunday's service.
"We got out of the car, the water was up to my chin. I took a few steps and I was under the guardrail. Along with my daughter Katie and our grandchildren," she said. "One minute it was inches deep, a minute later it was over our heads. Our feet couldn't hit. It was all muddy. There was nothing we could do but go with it."
The bodies of Enzo and Linda De Piero, Love and Barnhart were also recovered in Upper Makefield following the flood last weekend.
"I love you," Love's husband, Dave Love, said during Sunday's service. "I am so sorry. Thank you for all that you did."
Families during Sunday's service also prayed for the first responders who tried to rescue the victims. Police will also conduct seven days of silence online in honor of the lives that were lost.
"We take comfort in the words of Saint Paul," Paul Sheils, a relative of Katie, Matilda and Conrad, said during the service. "Take glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance, character and character, hope."
Learn more about the victims and timeline of the flood here.
