PHILADELPHIA (TNS) — A child’s body found in the Delaware River near Port Richmond Friday night was that of Matilda “Mattie” Sheils, the 2-year-old who disappeared a week ago during a deadly flash flood in Upper Makefield.
In a statement posted to Facebook over the weekend, Upper Makefield police said “we are grateful that prayers were answered and that we were able to bring Mattie home.”
Search operations including K-9 teams and divers continued “up and down the Delaware River” for Mattie’s 9-month-old brother, Conrad, the township said.
Mattie’s body was found around 5:30 p.m. Friday in debris against a pier in the area of the Philadelphia Waste Disposal Plant after police received a 911 call about a child’s body in the river in the 3900 block of North Delaware Avenue, south of the Betsy Ross Bridge, police said. The location is 32 miles from where floodwaters swept Mattie away July 15 along a stretch of Washington Crossing Road in Upper Makefield.
Including Mattie and her 32-year-old mother, Katheryn Seley, six people were confirmed dead in the flash flood, triggered by a severe thunderstorm. The child’s father, Jim Sheils, survived along with a 4-year-old son, and Seley’s mother. The family was visiting friends and family from Charleston, S.C., and were on the way to a barbecue when their vehicle encountered the raging waters along the overwhelmed Hough’s Creek.
Seley’s body, along with those of Enzo Depiero, 78, of Newtown Township, and Susan Barnhart, 53, of Titusville, N.J., were found July 15. The bodies of Yuko Love, 64, and Linda Depiero, 74, both of Newtown Township, were recovered July 16.
The Sheils family Saturday released pictures of a smiling blond Mattie and a statement of thanks “for the overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and concern” from people throughout the country.
“We are grateful that our little Mattie has been brought home to us. We are still praying for the return of Conrad,” they said.
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