OHIOPYLE, Pa. -- Sherry Cottrill, her family and friends maintained a vigil in this Fayette County community while divers looked for her son in the Youghiogheny River, about two miles downstream.

Esker Cottrill III, 26, of Canonsburg, was swimming in the rain-swollen river with a friend last Friday afternoon, several hundred yards upstream from an 18-foot waterfall. He got caught in the swift current and was swept over the waterfall.

A kayaker spotted him below the falls, but wasn't able to pull him to safety. A sandal Mr. Cottrill was wearing was found on a rock below the falls that afternoon.

"All I want is to take my boy home," said Mrs. Cottrill, of Washington, Pa. "We have not left the area and will not leave without him."

Waiting with her were her three daughters, Lilly Miller and Heather Cottrill, both of Washington, and Priscilla Duchi of Canonsburg. The close-knit family was joined by a cousin, Marie Walden of Canonsburg, and Rose Kelly of Houston, Pa., a close friend of the family.

A dive team from New Haven Hose Co. of the Connellsville Fire Department was taken by raft to a location in the river where a cadaver dog indicated on Sunday and yesterday that a body might be trapped underwater. Divers searched without success and were to resume the search in the morning.

Mrs. Cottrill said her son, a talented handyman who helped friends and neighbors with everything from lawn mowing to house painting, had been coming to Ohiopyle and swimming in the river since he was a youngster.

Mrs. Cottrill said she and her family have been given free lodging and meals since they arrived here Friday evening.

"We want to express our sincere and deepest gratitude to the community, rescuers and volunteers of Ohiopyle for their unselfish and unconditional help and love they have given us daily," she said.

A memorial fund in her son's name has been set up to provide financial help for lodging and food for families "that may experience this type of tragedy in the future."

Donations may be sent to The Friends of Ohiopyle State Park, P.O. Box 105, Ohiopyle, PA 15470.