News made headlines in a small town of Pennsylvania when a 13-year-old girl went missing on Friday. After a couple days of ongoing searches, Shevy McGiffin’s body was found on Trout Run, a creek that empties into the Clarion River. It has recently been confirmed that the teenager’s cause of death is accidental drowning.
Shevy walked not even a quarter-mile to the Dollar Store to buy herself a coloring book on Friday evening around 7:00 p.m. When some time passed and Shevy still hadn’t returned home, her mother, Tina McGiffin, began to worry. She called Shevy’s father, but when he, too, did not know where Shevy was, they began searching for her.
Her father, Andrew Schneider, had a terrible feeling that his daughter had been taken.
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Shevy was reported missing, and locally, the news quickly began to spread. The weekend was filled with searches of the area as well as prayer gatherings, and many took time out of their day to hand out flyers in efforts to find the little girl. Unfortunately, the efforts to find Shevy were quickly halted after a body of a juvenile female was located just upstream from the Clarion River on Trout Run.
It was confirmed that the body was, indeed, that of Shevy McGiffin. After her death was announced, spectators were quick to judge what had happened to the little girl. Many believed she was abducted and killed. Others thought that perhaps it was a terrible, tragic accident.
One person commented on Explore Clarion questioning why her body was not found after clearing that same area just two hours before.
“She was gone go two days. It took two days for her body to show up, being she wasn’t in the spot they found her two hours prior then all the sudden her body was discovered after they had already looked there. The autopsy should be able to tell how long her body sat for?”
Another person commented with a similar opinion.
“Her dad searched that entire creek all night long when she first went missing he was soaked head to toe when I talked to him Friday night.. I agree it doesn’t make sense how her body showed up where they had been searching almost the entire 2 days.”
Shevy’s autopsy was completed on Monday, and later that evening it was revealed that she died from drowning. WPXI revealed a video that confirmed the little girl’s body was located down towards the end of the creek where it meets the Clarion River. The district attorney also reported that the creek gradually becomes deeper as it becomes closer to the river. However, he further stated that the creek was not very high where Shevy was found.
There have been many reports that Shevy’s sweatshirt was found on the bank of the creek, which caused many to believe that there is more to the story, but this is based on multiple reports and speculations.
According to Explore Clarion , Coroner Terry Shaffer says that foul play is not suspected; however, the district attorney mentioned that this shall be considered a homicide until proven otherwise.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family of Shevy McGiffin to assist with funeral and burial expenses, but has since stopped accepting further donations. They were able to exceed their goal of $10,000 and are very grateful for the support.
“All the love an help is overwhelming. An great to see so many ppl help my friends family in there time of need makes me feel good. Thank you all for ur love an support to this family.”
Shevy McGiffin’s funeral service has been arranged with the Goble Funeral Home and Crematory in Clarion. Her obituary mentions that she was a seventh grader at Clarion-Limestone School. Shevy enjoyed art and making crafts. Shevy had a loving heart and could find the good in anybody. Shevy wanted to be an artist working for Disney, or an architect.
[Photo by GoFundMe Page]