Husband of Missing RFK Granddaughter Thankful For Love, Support

SHADY SIDE, MD — It is clear that Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, of Washington, D.C., and her eldest son died in a boating mishap on Chesapeake Bay, their husband and father said on Facebook Saturday. Maeve McKean and 8-year-old Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean ventured onto the water Thursday and have not been seen since. "The chances they have survived are impossibly small," David McKean wrote. "It is clear that Maeve and Gideon have passed away."

Maeve McKean, is the granddaughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and daughter of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. The Coast Guard suspended the search Friday night for the mother and son and efforts will instead shift to the recovery of the bodies.

The pair went missing near Herring Bay Thursday evening, according to Maryland Natural Resources Police. Neither McKean nor her son wore a life jacket when they went out in a canoe to try to recover a ball.

"Maeve ... was my everything," her husband shared on Facebook. "She was my best friend and my soulmate. ...She was the brightest light I have ever known."

David McKean said the family was self-quarantining in the empty house owned by Kathleen Townsend on the bay to give their kids more space than at home in DC to run around. Gideon and Maeve were playing kickball by a protected cove behind the house, and one of them kicked the ball into the water. The mother and son got into a canoe and were pushed by wind or tide into the open bay.

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 they were not seen again. The Coast Guard found their canoe, which was capsized and miles away.

Coast Guard personnel searched a combined total of 3,658 square miles over air, sea, and land over 26 hours.

Of his son, Gideon, McKean wrote, "he was brave, leading his friends in games, standing up to people who he thought were wrong (including his parents), and relishing opportunities to go on adventures with friends, even those he’d just met. It is impossible to sum up Gideon here. I am heartbroken to even have to try. 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."

The couple have two other children, Gabriella and Toby. Their father described their reaction to the accident.

"At seven, Gabriella is heartbroken, but she amazes me with her maturity and grace," David McKean wrote. "Toby is two-and-a-half, so he’s still his usual magical and goofy self. I know soon he will start to ask for Maeve and Gideon. It breaks my heart that he will not get to have them as a mother and brother."

Maeve McKean is executive director of the Georgetown University Global Health Initiative.

The former lieutenant governor said in a statement Friday that her daughter will be remembered for her devotion to helping society's most vulnerable through the Peace Corps and other endeavors. Her grandson she described as a star athlete who loved soccer, golf, and running.

"Maeve was vivid. You always knew when she was in a room. Her laughter was loud, unabashed, and infectious," Kennedy Townsend said. "She did everything with her full self and her whole heart. She gave the best hugs, sang loudly and out of tune, danced, wrestled, argued, forgave. Maeve shone. The fire emanating from her soul warmed us all. Her husband, David, and their children, Gideon, Gabriella, and Toby, were the great joys of her life. The role she treasured most was mom."

Gideon loved riddles, math, chess, and adventures, his grandmother said. "He loved to invent new games with his mom and share them with us all. Gideon was a loving and protective big brother."

"This was a difficult case, and even more difficult to make the decision to suspend the search," said Cmdr. Matthew Fine, deputy sector commander and active search suspension authority at Sector Maryland-National Capitol Region command center. "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."

At a news conference Friday afternoon, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said he had reached out to Kennedy Townsend and "expressed our most heartfelt sympathy and prayers to her and her entire family at this difficult time."

The Anne Arundel County Police Department was dispatched to 1500 Robinson Road in Shady Side about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. A 911 caller told the dispatch center that he had seen two people in a small canoe or kayak drifting in Chesapeake Bay. A water rescue assignment was called out, and first responders from the Annapolis Fire Department, Maryland Natural Resources Police, Maryland State Police's aviation division, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Cape May, New Jersey, Queen Anne's County and Calvert County arrived.

When firefighters arrived at the pier, they saw two people in a small vessel believed to be a canoe several miles from the pier drifting south in the Chesapeake Bay. Boats and helicopters began a search of the Chesapeake Bay, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department reported.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, a canoe and a paddle were recovered east of Rockhold Creek in Deale by the Coast Guard and the fireboat from the City of Annapolis Fire Department. At 7:30 p.m., the search was called off due to darkness. The mother and son were last seen 10 miles south of Annapolis near Herring Bay.