GLOUCESTER COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) – The body of the missing 13-year-old swimmer was found in the water around 7:15 a.m. Sunday, according to Drew Luellen with Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue.
The Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office says the boy’s body was discovered by someone walking the beach about a half mile from where he initially went missing.
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All agencies suspended their search at Gloucester Point Beach Saturday evening. Abingdon Fire and Rescue said all agencies suspended the search at around 5:30 p.m. and the Coast Guard suspended their search at 11 a.m..
At 4:40 p.m. Friday, the Coast Guard received a report that the boy went missing while swimming with his sister. He was playing in the water near the fishing pier when he went under and didn’t come back up.
WSLS 10’s sister station WAVY spoke with a woman who says she’s the mother of the missing boy. She identified him as Chandler “Chad” Shetterly.
Amy Shetterly, Chad’s sister, said, “I don’t know if he went under, or if he went out. I mean, we have hope. I’m hoping he just wandered off but, it’s been six hours now… but nothing has been found yet.”
Shetterly was wearing a red, white and blue bathing suit and did not have a flotation device.
The Coast Guard launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Elizabeth City. A 29-foot response boat from Station Milford Haven in Hudgins also responded. Divers were in the water as well.
The York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office, the York County Fire Department, the Abingdon Volunteer Fire Department, the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Newport News Fire Department, Hampton Police, and Hampton Fire Department assisted in the search.
“We are working together with local agencies and are doing everything in our power to find this boy,” said Coast Guard Cmdr. Peggy Britton, search and rescue mission coordinator for the case.
Officials say they covered 44 square miles of the York River searching for the boy.