11-year-old swept away in Wichita creek remembered at vigil

Despite the somber circumstances, a sense of determination pervaded a candlelight vigil held Monday night for the 11-year-old Wichita boy who went missing in Gypsum Creek last week.

John Smith, a family friend of Devon Dean Cooley, the missing boy, vowed to keep looking until Devon was found.

“I’m a man of my word – when I tell you I won’t stop, I mean it,” Smith said. “As God as my witness, I won’t stop until we can have some final closure. I’ve got a big hole in my heart. It’ll never be filled, but the man upstairs had special needs for (Devon). We can’t judge him why he took him, but there was a reason for it.”

Dan Syrcle, pastor at First Salem Church and a Wichita police chaplain, quoted John 9:1-5.

“Devon was a light,” Syrcle said. “Devon didn’t do anything wrong; the family didn’t do anything wrong. Devon was taken before his time.”

Devon’s father, David, praised the efforts of the firefighters searching for his son.

“It tears these guys up that they can’t find him,” he said. “They’re taking it personal. The ... captain was crying to me today because he couldn’t do nothing, couldn’t find him. I want you all to know how hard these people are working.”

After an afternoon spent digging through mud on the creek bed, those firefighters called off the search for Devon until Tuesday.

Crews will resume their search for the boy, who fell in and has been missing for days, at 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to Wichita Fire Battalion Chief Jim Wilson.

Since Friday, crews have been searching for Devon, whom the family identified on Monday as the missing boy.

According to fire officials, Devon was walking with three friends near the creek northeast of Hillside where normally a path crosses over.

Because of heavy rains Friday afternoon, the creek had swollen such that there was no path.

Devon, attempting to cross, was swept away with the current as his friends tried to grab him.

His friends ran along the banks of the creek to a footbridge near Jardine Middle School, where they lost sight of him, Wilson said.

The boys then ran to the Lord’s Diner on South Hillside to report it.

By Monday, the water in the creek had receded nearly 14 feet, according to Wilson.

On Sunday and earlier Monday, search crews had set up farther downstream along Gypsum Creek, to where it merges with Chisholm Creek and feeds into the Arkansas River.

Workers with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, as well as firefighters, used search boats with sonar technology to look for the boy, Wilson said.

Though Wilson earlier Monday called it an “area of interest,” by 7 p.m. Monday, search crews had “100 percent cleared” everything west of Hillside, he said.

“My people are convinced we need to be down here,” he said, referring to the area near Jardine Middle School, where the boy was last seen. “We’ve had some strong indications from cadaver dogs that makes us want to really work this area.”

By 8:30 p.m. Monday, crews had called off the search for the night, finding nothing in the area.

Crews had previously combed through that same area for hours on Saturday but found nothing.

“They’re pretty disappointed today – I think everyone thought this area we were really concentrating on, with the information we received and the cadaver dogs showing some positive signs, that we would have some closure for the family tonight, and unfortunately, we do not,” Wilson said.

He said crews were digging through the silt buildup on the creek bed, which in some areas comes up higher than firefighters’ knees. It is impossible to see anything through the water, he said; crews have to search “all by hands.”

“When that water was running as high and as hard as it was (Friday), potentially whatever’s below the surface is covered up with silt,” he said. “Short of getting down there on hands and knees while they’re crawling through that water, they’re going to be digging and turning up dirt.”

The four-day search for Devon has mentally and physically exhausted rescue crews, Wilson said, but “these guys aren’t going to quit until we tell them to quit.”

“They want closure for the family, just like everyone else,” he said. “It’s pretty disappointing when they’re out here all day and they come up empty-handed.”

On Monday, there were 30 to 40 rescue crews working the scene. There have been similar numbers every day, including Wichita police officers aiding the efforts, since Friday. The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Highway Patrol have also flown aircraft overhead at various points throughout the search, trying to spot the boy from the air.

A couple of firefighters will rotate shifts walking along the creek’s banks on Monday night, “just in case something would come up,” Wilson said.

A decision will likely be made Tuesday as to the feasibility of continuing the search for Devon, Wilson said.

Devon’s family, who have remained at the scene almost throughout the entire search operation, on Monday released a statement thanking firefighters for their tireless efforts to find the boy.

This story was originally published May 30, 2016 at 3:02 PM with the headline "11-year-old swept away in Wichita creek remembered at vigil."