Family of teen missing in creek clings to hope

Kimberly Sanon's cries for "Sebastien! Seb!" broke the morning calm of Pennypack Park on Wednesday as she wandered for more than a mile along the muddied paths, using a broken stick to poke in the overgrown brush and dark water in search of her brother.

She hoped that in the early hours, when the night sounds of the birds and insects had quieted, he might hear her and call out to her.

"I just want to get my brother back," she said through tears. "I just want to see and touch him again."

Police divers continue to search for Sebastien Sanon, the teenage boy swept away Tuesday afternoon in the fast-flowing, rain-swollen Pennypack Creek in Northeast Philadelphia. A volunteer search party organized by the family began scouring the park about 5:30 p.m. the next day.

Sebastien Sanon's 16th birthday is Aug. 26. An aspiring astronomer, he is two years away from completing Agora Cyber Charter School.

"He really likes the sky," his sister said of her "best friend."

Kimberly Sanon last saw her brother Tuesday morning when he let her borrow his new rain jacket, a gesture she said was typical of him. Before she left to face the downpour, he buttoned the back of her shirt where she couldn't reach.

Sanon and her mother, Adeline Ambroise, are hoping for a miracle.

The water overtook Sebastien about 4:40 p.m. He was riding his bicycle in Pennypack Park with three friends and got off to enter the creek, according to police.

In the water, he tried reaching for a friend's hand but lost his footing and was washed away, said Inspector Michael J. Cochrane, commanding officer of the Northeast Division. Friends and relatives said he was a strong swimmer.

His friends ran alongside him as he sped down the river, his sister said. At one point he grabbed a branch they extended to him. It snapped.

Friends saw him last when his head hit a slab of concrete supporting the Conrail bridge over the Pennypack and he dipped below the murky waters.

The Marine Unit, a police helicopter, and officers on horseback took part in the unsuccessful search Tuesday. Cochrane said divers resumed the search Wednesday morning and that it was a recovery mission.

In places the creek was so calm, it looked motionless. In other areas, the water turned frothy white as it crashed over a bed of tire-size boulders. Divers waded slowly down the creek, which went from the height of their ankles to nearly their chins. From the surface, it is almost impossible to tell its depth.

While divers were searching for Sebastien on Tuesday night, a 45-year-old woman jumped into the creek and sustained minor injuries. Police do not believe she had any relation to the teenager.

Last month, under similar circumstances, 13-year-old Brandon Boyle drowned in the Pennypack when quick currents swept him away.

Friends and members of Brandon's church combed the area for three days looking for him. A passerby finally found his body July 4.

Natalie Leon, 20 of Northeast Philadelphia, was one of those who searched for Boyle. She returned Wednesday in search of yet another teenager lost in the murky waters so tempting to local children.

"It's surreal," said Leon, who served coffee to Brandon's mother in Bethel Franklin Mills church, "to think that they were both around the same age and both fell in close range [of each other]."

Although city officials say it is illegal to swim in Philadelphia creeks, children and adults frequent the Pennypack's waters during hot weather. Warnings from parents often go unheeded, and lives lost to the creek are too soon forgotten in the face of an alluring dip in the cool water.

Sebastien's father just wants something to change.

"If this happens so often, something is wrong," Pierre Sanon said. "How many kids are we going to lose?"