Crime scene tape.
A 21-year-old man drowned Saturday morning while swimming in Brandywine Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, according to state police.
Troopers were dispatched around 11:11 a.m. on July 20 to assist with a search and rescue effort after Sergio Ayala-Vilchis, a citizen of Mexico, went missing in the water near State Route 1 and Mill Road in Chadds Ford.
Emergency personnel from Concordville, Middletown, Longwood, and Kennett Townships, along with Riddle Hospital EMS, responded to the scene. According to investigators, Ayala-Vilchis had gone swimming with a woman he had met at a club in Delaware the night before. The two decided to swim in the creek that morning, entering from a spot just south of the Route 1 bridge.
While the pair were near the center of the creek, Ayala-Vilchis began to panic, reportedly unable to manage the water’s current. The woman was able to make it safely to shore, but soon lost sight of him in the water.
Search and rescue crews from Middletown Township located Ayala-Vilchis’ body later that morning in approximately eight feet of water, not far from where he initially entered the creek. Authorities confirmed that the woman who accompanied him has fully cooperated with the investigation.
The Delaware County Medical Examiner ruled the death accidental.
