This undated image posted on Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean's Twitter account shows her son Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean. Authorities were searching for the daughter and a grandson of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend on Friday, April 3, 2020, after a canoe they were paddling in the Chesapeake Bay didn’t return to shore. (Twitter via AP)
April 05, 2020 - 5:55 PM
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Divers and boats plan to resume searching Monday in the Chesapeake Bay for the bodies of the daughter and a grandson of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, authorities said.
The search began last Thursday after a report of a canoe in the bay that didn't return to shore after apparently being overtaken by strong winds. Searchers on Saturday and Sunday reported no signs of the canoiests and their effort will resume Monday after an overnight pause, a Maryland Natural Resources Police news release said late Sunday.
The missing canoeists were identified as Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and McKean’s 8-year-old son, Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean.
“With profound sadness, I share the news that the search for my beloved daughter Maeve and grandson Gideon has turned from rescue to recovery,” Kathleen Kennedy Townsend had said in a statement Friday night.
Kennedy Townsend, who served two terms as Maryland’s lieutenant governor, is the eldest daughter of the late U.S. Attorney General and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and niece of the late President John F. Kennedy.
Vessels during the weekend conducted sonar operations around the area where the two were last seen and where their overturned canoe was recovered, according to police.
The mother and son may been paddling the canoe from a home in Shady Side, Maryland, to retrieve a ball and couldn’t paddle back to shore, police said earlier.
Maeve McKean, a public health and human rights lawyer, served as executive director of the Georgetown University Global Health Initiative.
News from © The Associated Press, 2020