The mother of a Philly teen who went missing in the ocean in Wildwood is still searching for answers
Davoris Carter III, 14, was swimming in the ocean on a school trip. Rescuers were unable to pull him out of the water that day, and efforts to find him in the days since have been unsuccessful.
It has been nearly a week since Shyara Hill’s 14-year-old son, Davoris Carter III, went missing in the Atlantic Ocean during a school trip to Wildwood.
And Saturday, as Hill and a large group of friends and relatives walked the boardwalk seeking answers about whether any officials were continuing to search for Carter, Hill said it was hard to shake the sight of other people enjoying a carefree day on the beach — the place that is now the center of her family’s ongoing tragedy.
“I’m just trying to get some kind of closure, or at least know that someone really tried” to find Carter, Hill said.
Carter, a special-needs student at Delta School in Philadelphia, disappeared while swimming in the ocean Monday. He and several classmates, as well as school staff members, were visiting Wildwood on what his mother said was an eighth-grade graduation trip.
But the trip took a dangerous turn in the afternoon. Wildwood officials said that just before 1:30 p.m., police were flagged down because several swimmers were in distress. A responding officer was able to rescue three people, officials said — but not Carter.
Rescue efforts were launched and included swimmers from several area fire departments and beach patrols, as well as people on rescue boards and personal watercraft. Boats and helicopters from agencies including the U.S. Coast Guard and New Jersey State Police joined in, officials said.
But no one found Carter on Monday or Tuesday. And by Wednesday, Wildwood said it was ending its “initial large-scale search operation” even as it considered the investigation active and ongoing. Attempts to reach city leaders for an update Saturday were unsuccessful.
Lifeguards were not on duty when Carter and his classmates were swimming, because lifeguards are stationed at designated beaches only on weekends until later in the season, beginning June 16, officials said.
Delta School CEO David Weathington told NBC10 earlier this week that there were six staff members accompanying six students on the trip, and that the school was also continuing to seek more information about what happened.
Hill said that her son is the oldest of four siblings, and that he is a kind and funny teen and good student who enjoys sports, including basketball and ice hockey. She said he was recently accepted into the Philadelphia Police Department’s “explorer cadet” program, which introduces young people to aspects of law enforcement, as well as the Philadelphia City Rowing program.
Hill said her family’s heartache over potentially losing Carter has been compounded by what she called a lack of communication from relevant officials. She said she had not heard from Wildwood police since earlier in the week, when they said they would be using drones to help in their search.
And she said no one in their family had sensed much urgency from the agencies involved with trying to find Carter.
“I just want to know that someone was searching for him,” she said.
