The granddaughter of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and her son are presumed dead after a search of Chesapeake Bay failed to find them.
A Coast Guard search for Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and Gideon McKean, 8, that began on Thursday “has turned from rescue to recovery,” according to a Friday statement, Fox News reported.
McKean and her son were last seen in a canoe struggling to return to shore.
The family had been gathering Thursday at a home owned by Maeve McKean’s mother, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who’s the daughter of Robert Kenndy and a former lieutenant governor of Maryland.
Maeve’s husband, David McKean, offered an explanation for the tragedy on his Facebook page.
“We were self-quarantining in an empty house owned by Maeve’s mother Kathleen on the Chesapeake Bay, hoping to give our kids more space than we have at home in DC to run around,” he said. “Gideon and Maeve were playing kickball by the small, shallow cove behind the house, and one of them kicked the ball into the water. The cove is protected, with much calmer wind and water than in the greater Chesapeake.
Kennedy Center ceiling partially collapses as Trump-led board pushes for 2-year closure
Machete-wielding MS-13 gangster wanted for murder walks free after Biden-appointed judge releases him: DHS
Trump-linked MAGA Inc pours $10M into Ken Paxton’s Texas Senate race against James Talarico
Trump Admin Shows Iran What Real Power Looks Like: Responds to Attack By Annihilating 3 Oil Tankers
EXCLUSIVE: FBI’s fifth Most Wanted Fraudster captured after alleged SNAP scam suspect arrested in India
North Carolina Dem Senate candidate added former Bloods gang member to criminal justice task force: report
‘Insensitive Is Killing Three Children!’ DA Blasts Critics Who Called the Lindsay Clancy Prosecution ‘Insensitive’
ICYMI: El-Sayed Admits to Unhinged Response to Criticism of His Beard – He Violently Smashed a Vodka Bottle
Lindsay Clancy Fangirls Push Child Killer’s GoFundMe Total to Staggering $1.1M Following Mistrial
Taxpayers Footed the Bill for Nearly $500M in Food Stamps at California Fast Food Joints
Clancy Copycat: Mother Accused of Murdering 2-Year-Old Confirmed to Be Obsessed with Lindsay Clancy
Wheel of Fortune Host Fired After Photos Appear to Show Him Scrolling Through Pedo Chatroom
‘Shame!’: Unhinged Lindsay Clancy Fans Screech at DA During Press Conference
Judge allows ‘homewrecker’ lawsuit against former Sen Kyrsten Sinema to move forward
Detransitioner takes malpractice fight to appeals court after North Carolina law change
“They got into a canoe, intending simply to retrieve the ball, and somehow got pushed by wind or tide into the open bay,” he wrote.
“About 30 minutes later they were spotted by an onlooker from land, who saw them far out from shore, and called the police. After that last sighting, they were not seen again. The Coast Guard recovered their canoe, which was capsized and miles away, at approximately 6:30 yesterday evening,” David McKean added.
“This was a difficult case, and even more difficult to make the decision to suspend the search,” Coast Guard Cmdr. Matthew Fine said, according to CNN.
Kennedy Center ceiling partially collapses as Trump-led board pushes for 2-year closure
Machete-wielding MS-13 gangster wanted for murder walks free after Biden-appointed judge releases him: DHS
Trump-linked MAGA Inc pours $10M into Ken Paxton’s Texas Senate race against James Talarico
Trump Admin Shows Iran What Real Power Looks Like: Responds to Attack By Annihilating 3 Oil Tankers
EXCLUSIVE: FBI’s fifth Most Wanted Fraudster captured after alleged SNAP scam suspect arrested in India
North Carolina Dem Senate candidate added former Bloods gang member to criminal justice task force: report
‘Insensitive Is Killing Three Children!’ DA Blasts Critics Who Called the Lindsay Clancy Prosecution ‘Insensitive’
ICYMI: El-Sayed Admits to Unhinged Response to Criticism of His Beard – He Violently Smashed a Vodka Bottle
Lindsay Clancy Fangirls Push Child Killer’s GoFundMe Total to Staggering $1.1M Following Mistrial
Taxpayers Footed the Bill for Nearly $500M in Food Stamps at California Fast Food Joints
Clancy Copycat: Mother Accused of Murdering 2-Year-Old Confirmed to Be Obsessed with Lindsay Clancy
Wheel of Fortune Host Fired After Photos Appear to Show Him Scrolling Through Pedo Chatroom
‘Shame!’: Unhinged Lindsay Clancy Fans Screech at DA During Press Conference
Judge allows ‘homewrecker’ lawsuit against former Sen Kyrsten Sinema to move forward
Detransitioner takes malpractice fight to appeals court after North Carolina law change
“Our crews and partners did everything they could to find them. We’ve kept the family informed at every step during the search, and our thoughts are with them tonight.”
The Coast Guard said the wind in Herring Bay, an offshoot of the larger bay, was at 26 knots, or roughly 30 mph, when Maeve McKean and her son entered the water.
Waves were between two and three feet high at the time.
The Coast Guard began its search Thursday and by Friday afternoon had covered 2,275 square miles, according to The Washington Post.
Townsend announced the loss of McKean and her son “with profound sadness.”
“Our Maeve devoted her life to helping society’s most vulnerable,” she said in a statement. “She was a Peace Corps volunteer who pursued a career in law to give voice to the voiceless.”
“My heart is crushed, yet we shall try to summon the grace of God and what strength we have to honor the hope, energy and passion that Maeve and Gideon set forth into the world,” she also said.
McKean served as the executive director of Georgetown University’s Global Health Initiative. She was an adjunct professor at the university, teaching bioethics and human rights.
Summing up his son on Facebook, David McKean wrote, “I used to marvel at him as a toddler and worry that he was too perfect to exist in this world. It seems to me now that he was.”
In writing about his wife, he said she “was my everything. She was my best friend and my soulmate.”
“She was the brightest light I have ever known,” he wrote.
Story cited here.
