Jan Wesner Childs
Published: April 4, 2020
A granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy and her young son are presumed dead after a canoe accident on the windy Chesapeake Bay Thursday afternoon.
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend says authorities have shifted from a “rescue” search to a “recovery” search as they look for her daughter, Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, and grandson Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean, according to the Associated Press.
The search started Thursday afternoon after a report of two people on a canoe who appeared to be overtaken by strong winds.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced Friday night it had suspended the effort, but other agencies resumed a search for the bodies on Saturday.
"She was my everything," human rights lawyer David McKean said of his wife in a Facebook memorial on Friday evening.
McKean told the Washington Post his wife and son went missing after paddling out into the bay around 4 p.m. to chase a ball. The family was gathered at a waterfront house owned by his wife's mother, who is the eldest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
"They just got farther out than they could handle and couldn’t get back in," McKean said.
Winds gusted to 35 mph in that part of the bay on Thursday afternoon, and a small craft advisory was issued. The windier-than-usual conditions were caused by a strong Atlantic storm churning offshore farther to the north.
Overnight temperatures in the Annapolis area dipped to 48 degrees, while the water temperature in the bay was about 51 degrees.
Searchers found an overturned canoe matching the one that went missing, the Post reported on Friday, but no sign of McKean and her son.
The Coast Guard said they were contacted after Maryland State Police received a call that two people were seen struggling to return to shore. An MH-65 helicopter as well as a 45-foot response boat were deployed to the search. A C-130 airplane and another boat crew continued the search Friday. The state police and three other agencies also assisted in the initial search.
The tragedy is the latest to hit the seemingly cursed Kennedy family. Most notable were the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert.
Maeve McKean was a public health and human rights lawyer who served as executive director of the Georgetown University Global Health Initiative.
“Maeve was a master connector who brought together faculty and students across disciplines and schools in order to advance our shared mission for improving health and advancing justice, particularly for those left out or left behind,” John Monahan, an adviser to Georgetown's president, said in a news release Saturday.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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