July 21, 2025
FRANK PISCANI/IMAGN CONTENT SERVICES, LLC
Sergio Ayala-Vilches, 21, drowned Sunday morning while swimming in the Brandywine Creek in Chadds Ford, Delaware County, Pennsylvania State Police say. A woman who was with Ayala-Vilches made it out of the water safely.
Pennsylvania State Police have identified a 21-year-old man who drowned Sunday morning while swimming in the Brandywine Creek in Chadds Ford.
Sergio Ayala-Vilches entered the creek with a woman in the area of Route 1, west of Mill Road, police said. Ayala-Vilches and the woman had met Saturday night at a club in Delaware.
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After they swam out to the center of the creek, the woman told investigators Ayala-Vilches began to panic and was unable to swim in the current. The woman managed to make it back to land, but she could not see Ayala-Vilches in the water.
Shortly after 11 a.m., rescue crews arrived at the creek and found Ayala-Vilches' body in the center of the stream in an area about 8 feet deep.
Authorities said Ayala-Vilches was a Mexican citizen. His death has been ruled accidental.
