Pocono News Section

River Search Expands for Missing Kids

River Search Expands for Missing Kids - Monday, August 17, 2009 at 08:17AM EST

Reported by: Mark Hiller
Monday, Aug 17, 2009 @ 08:17am EST
var images = new Array(); LEWISBURG, UNION COUNTY - Boats, dive teams and tracking dogs are part of a search and rescue for a missing girl and boy along the Susquehanna River in Union County .

Crews are searching for 11-year-old Assunda Rotolo of Lewisburg and 8-year-old Leslie Davis Jr. of Mifflinburg.

The search, which focused at first near the Market Street Bridge in Lewisburg, has expanded roughly 3-miles to Point Township, Northumberland County.

The children are family friends.

A family member told police the children headed to the river in Lewisburg near the Market Street Bridge unsupervised to swim Sunday night around 7:30.

They never returned.

"They were swimming last night. We've had the cops searching. They've done a wonderful job trying to find them. They are coming back," said the missing girl's mother, Belinda Rotolo.

Lewisburg resident Jordi Comas showed up to help search if he was needed.

"You start thinking what's the most probable thing that happened here. You know, did they drown, were they taken," said Comas.

"There's lots of questions, like it's been this long. Where are they and why couldn't the dogs find them?"

The river is approximately 4-to-6 feet with some deeper pockets where the children may have disappeared.