Body of worker who fell into Big Timber Creek has been recovered, police say

The body of a 36-year-old contract worker who fell into a creek in South Jersey on Wednesday has been recovered, police said.

Valentin Garcia-Gaona was doing landscaping work at a house in the 500 block of Edgewater Avenue in Westville when he lost his footing and fell into Big Timber Creek shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Westville Police Chief Michael Packer.

A resident of the home heard Garcia-Gaona yelling for help in the water and tried to throw him a rope, but was unsuccessful, Packer said. The resident ran inside to call 911, and when he came back out, he could no longer see Garcia-Gaona, he said.

Dive and marine teams from Gloucester, Camden, and Cumberland Counties scoured the water for hours in hopes of saving Garcia-Gaona, but by Wednesday night they turned their search and rescue into a recovery mission, police said.

Divers faced a strong current and murky waters, making the search for Garcia-Gaona difficult, Packer said. At 9:30 p.m., one of the divers found Garcia-Gaona’s body under a deck, about 20 to 25 feet from where he had fallen into the water, he said.

Packer, who grew up near the creek in Westville, said the area could be dangerous, with little space to walk along securely and a strong undertow that made swimming risky.

Big Timber Creek is nearly six miles long and flows from Glendora into the Delaware River. In the area where Garcia-Gaona fell in, the water is about 10 feet deep, Packer said, while other parts of the creek are as deep as 20 feet.

“I’ve seen that current take people and drag them under,” he said. “At the top the current was going one way, as you go deeper it’s going another.”