Shevy Lynn McGiffin

CLARION TWP, Clarion County — A 13-year-old girl died of drowning in a rain-swollen stream near the Clarion River, and no foul play is suspected in her weekend death, investigators said.

“It’s being ruled an accident unless any other evidence turns up,” Clarion County Coroner Terry Shaffer said Monday, following an autopsy conducted on Shevy Lynn McGiffin in Erie.

Two volunteer firefighters searching for Shevy discovered her body in Trout Run about 3:50 p.m. Sunday, nearly two days after she left her home in Clarion Township, just east of Clarion, to go to a store, according to state police.

The girl made the several-minute walk to the Dollar General on South Fifth Avenue where she bought a coloring book. But she never returned home.

Investigators believe she was last seen shortly after 7:15 p.m. Friday in the parking lot outside the store.

Shevy lived with her mother at their house behind the Dollar General store. Authorities said her parents are separated or divorced.

“She walked across the stream before when she’d go to the store there,” Shaffer said.

But on Friday, heavy rains caused the typically shallow stream to rise suddenly. Authorities did not rule out that the girl somehow got swept up in the current and drowned.

It was not immediately known if Shevy could swim.

Her body was found about a mile downstream in Trout Run, which flows between her house and the store.

She was still wearing the same pink sweat shirt and pink shorts that she had on when she left her home.

There were numerous scrapes and bruises on her body, Shaffer said, which could have been the result of it being taken downstream across rocks and other debris in the water.

He acknowledged that police are still checking into “rumors” in the case, including one that an older man in a car was seen talking to the girl near the store.

The report about the unknown man apparently came from Shevy’s family but investigators have been unable to substantiate it.

“The case,” Shaffer said, “is pretty much closed now.”