Bucks County officials “strongly believe” the body of a girl found in the Delaware River roughly 30 miles south of Upper Makefield is Matilda “Mattie” Sheils, the 2-year-old who along with her infant brother slipped out of the arms of family members swept away by flood waters last Saturday.
Philadelphia police in the 24th District confirmed Friday evening that the body of a white female child, “possibly related to the flash flood in Bucks County” had been recovered in the 3900 block of Delaware Avenue in the Port Richmond section of the city.
At a news conference late Friday, Upper Makefield fire Chief Tim Brewer said Philadelphia police received two anonymous phone calls two minutes apart shortly after 5 p.m. reporting a body in the Delaware River.
The second call provided a description of the child and a location in the water south of the Betsy Ross Bridge, Brewer said. Police responded to the area and removed the child from debris against a pier in the area of a waste disposal plant in Port Richmond.
A Philadelphia Fire Department medical unit waiting nearby pronounced the child dead at the scene at 5:30 p.m. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy on Saturday, Brewer said.
But based on a physical description of the child and the clothing she was wearing, “we strongly believe it’s Mattie Sheils,” Brewer said.
“This has been an emotional time for the community,” Brewer added. “All our hearts are broken this evening.”
Crews continue search for Conrad Sheils
Brewer repeated his privacy request for the Seley-Sheils family as they process everything that has happened over the past seven “tumultuous days.”
“We cannot begin to fathom the pain they’re experiencing but we will never leave their sides as they deal with this tragedy,” Brewer added.
The fire chief, who has been the public face of the unprecedented search and recovery efforts, also thanked the public for its outpouring of support, love and concern for the survivors, victims and first responders who have worked nonstop since 5:30 p.m. July 15.
“Your words of encouragement, your efforts to help all have been expressed and have never gone unheard and has touched us all,” Brewer said.
The discovery in the Delaware River happened nearly the same time searchers in Upper Makefield wrapped up operations Friday with no luck finding Mattie or her 9-month-old brother Conrad.
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Overnight, Philadelphia marine units will continue searching the river for Conrad, Brewer said, adding that since the floods that killed six people, local rescue units have been monitoring the river and agencies south of Upper Makefield were aware of the situation.
Day 8 of the search will resume Saturday with additional K9 teams and other resources including marine and air and diving units searching along the length of the Delaware River, Brewer said.
“We will be in the water tomorrow,” he added. “We will work tirelessly to make sure that Conrad is found.”
How did Mattie Sheils end up in the Delaware River?
For a young child to travel more than 30 miles down river is unusual “but certainly possible,” according to Gerry Dworkin, an aquatics safety and water rescue technical consultant with Lifesaving Resources, a Kennebunkport, Maine company that trains and supports lifeguard, public safety and rescue personnel internationally.
Children are physically lighter and have less muscle mass, which makes them more buoyant meaning they can be carried further, Dworkin said.
“They can float for very long distances,” he added.
Young children, like Mattie and Conrad, are also at a higher risk for hypothermia, even during the summer months, Dworkin added. A child can lose body temperature rapidly even in 70-degree water for an hour.
At one point over the last week more than 100 searchers in Upper Makefield have concentrated on a 40-acre area south of Washington Crossing Road. Weather conditions Wednesday and Thursday slowed search efforts.
The children slipped out of the arms of their mother and grandmother after the four were swept away in fast-moving flood waters after Houghs Creek overflowed as a result of up to six inches of rain in two hours.
The children’s mother, Katie Seley, 32, of Charleston, South Carolina, and four others drowned in the catastrophic flooding. Seley’s fiance, Jim Sheils, and the couple’s 4-year-old son, Jack were rescued by firefighters.
Seley’s mother, Dahlia Galindez, 62, also of Charleston, South Carolina, survived being dragged into the water and found help at a nearby home on Stonebridge Crossing Road.
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The couple were visiting Sheils family, who live in Newtown Township, when their vehicle was one of 11 caught up in what witnesses and survives described as a wall of water that crashed downhill from Houghs Creek, a tributary of the Delaware River.
Saturday morning, Upper Makefield police posted an update with a note from the family:
“The Sheils family would like to express their continued gratitude for the overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and concern from the community and from people around the country as rescue workers have worked tirelessly to find Mattie and Conrad. We are grateful that our little Mattie has been brought home to us. We are still praying for the return of Conrad. Thank you all, again, for your compassion and your kindness. We are humbled.”
How many people were swept into the water?
In total, 19 people on Washington Crossing Road were caught in the violent currents; a dozen survived including Galindez and David Love, husband of Yuko Love, 64.
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Love, Enzo and Linda DePiero, 78, and 74 respectively, and Susan Barnhart, 53, of Titusville, New Jersey perished in the waters and they were found Saturday and Sunday along with Seley.
Since Saturday, Upper Makefield first responders had seached night and day for the missing Sheils children, the last of the unaccounted for victims.
A search and rescue operation like never seen before included drones, air, ground and water resources including sonar, divers and dogs. Equipment and personnel were recruited from Central New Jersey and as far south as Delaware and Chester counties to aid the search.
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