ELYRIA —  A cold mist rose Monday from the East Falls of the Black River, where a crowd of several hundred gathered on the Riverwalk to mourn 13-year-old Logan J. Spradlin, who drowned Saturday after falling into the river.

Many wiped away tears, including Jessica Higgins, 14, who collected signatures in a memory book about Logan.

“He’s gone, he’s gone,” Jessica sobbed.

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Another close friend, Brittany Metcalf, also 13, recalled the loving friend she had known since kindergarten.

“He was always caring — the kind of person who made sure you were OK and would help you get through the day,” Brittany said.

A recovery diver found Logan’s body in a 30-foot-deep pool under the falls at 10:33 a.m. Sunday morning. The death of the teen, who had been in the water more than 20 hours, was ruled an accidental drowning.

Ten-year-old Brennon Miller, Logan’s friend, ran for help at 2:08 p.m. Saturday after Logan climbed over the guard railing of an observation deck, slipped on the foundation rocks of an old mill and went over the waterfalls.

As the crowd gathered for Monday’s vigil, three older teens scaled rocks on the opposite side of the river gorge to paint “In Memory (of) Logan” on a large rock.

While grateful for the affection for his son’s memory, Logan’s father, Jason Spradlin was upset that the other boys were endangering their own lives.

“This whole place is dangerous,” Jason Spradlin said, surveying the area of the Riverwalk behind the Elyria Police Station.

Logan, who lived in the 100 block of Furnace Street, only had permission to go to a friend’s house and was not supposed to be at the park, according to his stepmother, Sheri Spradlin.

Meanwhile, about 150 students at Northwood Middle School sought counseling Monday from seven members of the Elyria Schools Crisis Team at the school where Logan had attended the eighth grade, according to schools spokeswoman Amy Higgins.

She said Northwood Principal Jomill Wiley and Assistant Principal Theresa Lengel went to all of Logan’s classes to give students the facts and urge them to seek help if needed.

“He was very popular and had a lot of friends, so the students were very sad,” Higgins said. “Many students brought memorials to school — poems, cards and flowers — which were placed in the showcase off the main hallway.”

Students at Northwood wore green — Logan’s favorite color — in his memory after exchanging thousands of text messages about the accident.

One boy at the vigil said he had received 20 text messages on his cell phone about the accident.

Elyria High students who knew Logan from contact with his siblings also wore green in his memory.

Logan had three sisters, Mykka, 11, Amanda, 16, and Stephanie, 14, and a stepbrother, Connor, 15.

Some people attending Monday’s vigil said they wanted more safety features at the Riverwalk.

But others including Jack Estep said that people just need to be more careful.

“This is a tragedy, but I don’t think there’s any responsibility on the part of the city or that anything should be changed,” said Estep, who brought his 4-year-old grandson Nathan to the vigil.

Elyria Fire Chief Richard Benton said a number of people have drowned over the years in the river and there were as many accidents — if not more — before the Riverwalk was constructed.

In warm weather, Benton said teens would cut the wire fence topped with barbed wire to get to the pond under the falls.

In hot weather, young people still leap over the falls on the east and west branches, said Katie Brown, 29, who recalled jumping the West Falls as a 7-year-old girl.

“My older brothers and everyone else were doing it,” Brown said. “Kids don’t think before they act.”

Logan’s great-grandmother, Shirley Budzinski, said she hopes the safety message hits home.

“I hope they hear and stay away from the falls,” Budzinski said. “It’s so dangerous.”

When raw emotions subside, Logan’s aunt, Carrie Charlton, a teacher in the Midview Schools, said his family hopes to work with officials at the Elyria Schools on a safety talk to alert young people about the danger of taking unnecessary risks in life.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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