Kennedy family tragedy: Mother-son duo didn't have lifejacket and choppy waters took them to point of no return
For a few moments, it seemed like Maeve McKean and her 8-year-old son Gideon might be saved as they struggled in the stormy expanse of Chesapeake Bay for some 30 minutes last Thursday.
However, the mother-son duo were already miles out into the bay in their canoe by then.
Mckean's family had gone to her mother's empty waterfront home in Shady Side, Maryland, to isolate amid the coronavirus pandemic.
David McKean remembered how his wife and son — the granddaughter and great-grandson of Robert F. Kennedy — had been playing kickball behind the house, which borders a “small, shallow cove” on the bay, People reports.
At some point, the ball went into the water, prompting McKean and her son to hop on to their canoe so they could quickly retrieve it and return home. Furthermore, it was a cool and mostly clear day, with some clouds — barely warning of a rough sail.
“The cove is protected, with much calmer wind and water than in the greater Chesapeake,” David explained on Facebook as he recounted the tragic episode.
“Somehow,” he wrote, they “got pushed by wind or tide into the open bay.”
According to family friend Alan Fleischmann, it was only McKean, her husband, and their three young kids staying at the property.
“She was extremely strict about practicing social distancing, and she brought her kids to have a little time there out in the fresh air,” he told People.
Meanwhile, police told the outlet someone did witness them getting onto the boat, but did not go into further detail due to the ongoing investigation.
It was about half an hour later that a man on the pier at Columbia Beach in Shady Side spotted the duo. He grew concerned that their boat was very small and none of the two were wearing a life jacket, and so he called 911 immediately.
Anne Arundel County Fire Department Capt Russ Davies told the outlet how "it looked like they were being pushed out into the water and were having a hard time returning to shore."
That fateful day, the water was frigid with gusts of winds roaring at over 30 mph and whitecapped waves of at least two-to-three feet.
According to the National Park Service, while the Chesapeake is mostly calm, “sections can funnel wind and develop nasty, choppy seas."
Ray Martin, a senior meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Baltimore office, explained how "bay is an odd combination between a lake and a part of the ocean."
“It’s pretty closed off from the ocean, so you don’t see ocean waves... It’s more like a Great Lake, which can have ocean-like conditions sometimes,” he told People. “You can go from days that are very calm to days that are quite stormy.”
Capt Davies noted that first responders were on the scene within fix or six minutes of the 911 call.
“[They] had eyes on the canoe, but it was far off from the pier,” he said, adding that firefighters “watched it when it went out of sight,” and "both people were still on it" at that time.
But Maeve and Gideon were not seen alive again.
Authorities only found the capsized canoe and paddle near Rockhold Creek west of the bay, owing to the darkness that made the search difficult to continue.
“The chances they have survived are impossibly small,” a devastated David wrote on Facebook the following day, adding, “The search for their recovery will continue, and I hope that that will be successful.”
“I have already thought many times over today that I need to remember to tell Maeve about something that’s happening,” he continued. “I am terrified by the idea that this will fade over time.”
A joint effort led by the county fire department, the Coast Guard, and other agencies finally located Maeve McKean's body on April 6. She was in 25 feet of water and about 2.5 miles south of her mother's house.
The search effort continued until two days later when divers found Gideon's body, also in 25 feet of water and less than half a mile from his mother's body.
McKean’s mother, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, thanked officials who led the recovery efforts in a statement on Wednesday.
“They have helped us bring some closure to this terrible loss,” she said, “and our family will always be grateful for their tireless work.