SLIPPERY ROCK TWP, Lawrence County — Family members hold out hope that Jeffery Hanby II, who fell into Slippery Rock Creek Saturday, will return home safely.

The search for the 38-year-old man from Meadville, who fell into the creek below the damn while hiking at McConnells Mill State Park, continued Tuesday.

“We are not giving up until we find him,” said Hanby's brother-in-law, Rob Kearns of Meadville.

The family is “trying to stay positive,” said Hanby's younger sister, Jodi Kearns, 30, of Meadville. “I am trying to think the best.”

[naviga:h3]Saturday morning[/naviga:h3]

Jodi Kearns met Jeffery at his home at 5 a.m. Saturday for the first day of turkey season. Donned in camouflage, the brother and sister left in Hanby's truck.

The duo tromped through several patches of woods between Meadville and Saegertown for several hours to no avail. They returned to his home, where Jodi's husband, Rob, was helping her father replace a window in his truck.

Jeffery left and returned around noon, dropping off a shop vac for his brother-in-law and dad before taking his fiancée for an afternoon outing to see the falls for the first time.

“That's the last time I saw my brother,” Kearns said.

[naviga:h3]Always together[/naviga:h3]

Kearns recalls hanging out with her older brothers, Jeffery and Jason, near Canadohta Lake when they were children.

“We grew up in the outdoors. We went through a bike a year,” Kearns said. The Hanby kids would fish by the lake all day and stop by the corner store for “penny candy” on the way home.

“We had a lot of fun together,” Kearns said.

Kearns and Jeffery were the closest of the three siblings. “He was the most giving person, I'd ever met,” she said.

Kearn's husband travels several weeks out of the month for his job. In his absence, Jeffery keeps close tabs on his little sister, mowing the yard and playing with her 7-year-old son, Gavyn.

According to Kearns, he is a very kind and funny person. He calls her every other day and answers the phone the same way each time. “Hey girl, how you livin'?,” she said.

“That was our relationship. We would always joke around with each other.”

As a child, Kearns suffered from epilepsy. She recalled one day having a “dizzy spell” on the bus on the way home from school. Jeffery was the first one to her side, asking other kids to move while he comforted his sister.

“He has always been my protector,” Kearns said.

Kearns said Jeffery has worked at Foulk's Flooring America in Crawford County for the past 20 years. He is an outdoor enthusiast and enjoys hunting and fishing.

He always cracks jokes whenever he can, Kearns said.

“He treats my son like he was his son,” said Kearns, taking the boy four-wheeling, among other activities.

“He has to come home. I can't lose him,” Kearns said.

<h3>Search continues</h3>Her father, husband and scores of family members and friends have been searching the steep terrain along Slippery Rock Creek since Hanby went missing.Kearns said there have been conflicting reports on what happened at the mill.“We really don't know what to believe,” Kearns said. “We need the best information to get the best outcome.”The park rangers have been very accommodating, allowing family members to join the search, she said.Dustin Drew, park manager, said a rotating crew of around six park rangers spent most of Tuesday searching for Hanby.The search is to resume Wednesday morning.The creek reached high water levels on the weekend and has dropped since. The continued drop, Drew said, helps the rangers search more of the creek.“As we continue to search, we'll look at other options for volunteers to help,” Drew said.Family members have walked both sides of the creek — four or more miles — and “ ... haven't found anything,” Kearns said.“He is my big brother. I've always had him. I don't know what I'd do without him.”<br><em>Eagle staff writer Eric Jankiewicz contributed to this report.</em>