Rockefeller heir drowns in Maine

Ted Cohen/Patch.com

PROUTS NECK, MAINE -- A socialite and Rockefeller heir was found dead on the oceanside rocks, having possibly fallen into the water and drowned while walking along a precarious seaside path, police said.

Heiress Helen Rockefeller Armide, 37, was the granddaughter of Godfrey Rockefeller, a former head of the Prouts Neck Country Club, as was his father before him.

Authorities said Armide was a victim of accidental drowning. Hikers found her body.

Grace Rockefeller Delagueronniere, a sister of Armide, called it "a family tragedy."

Armide's vehicle was found on Harmon Street near a seasonal home owned by her family and within walking distance of Winslow Home Road, where her body was found.

The Cliff Walk she was using, which runs 1.1 miles along the water, is described on its website as "a largely natural, narrow trail along the edge of rocky cliffs and the ocean, over sharp rocks, and across pebble beaches." The path is often slippery and "it can be quite dangerous walking," the website says.

Armide was once a head-turner at high-society fashion and art shows attended by wealthy socialites. As a fashion writer, she even posed once as Snow White to bring attention to the sex-slavery trade that was targeting Cambodian women. The portrait featuring Armide as Snow White was part of a 2010 fund-raiser called "The Lipstick Portraits" designed to combat sex slavery.

Prouts Neck, a summer enclave of the wealthy where the Rockefeller family has owned oceanfront property for generations, is known worldwide for artist Winslow Homer (1836–1910). The Winslow Homer Studio here, overlooking Cannon Rock, is a National Historic Landmark.

Prouts Neckers include NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his wife Jane Skinner, a former reporter for WCSH-TV in nearby Portland.

Skinner is the daughter of former U.S. Transportation Secretary Sam Skinner, who was also chief of staff under President George H.W. Bush. The Bush family owns the "summer White House" in Kennebunkport, Maine, where Bush's mother, Dorothy Walker married his father, Prescott Bush.

The future president and Armide's grandfather attended Phillips Andover Academy and then Yale University, both at the same time.