Authorities were searching Friday for the daughter and a grandson of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend after a canoe they were paddling in the Chesapeake Bay didn't return to shore.
Gov. Larry Hogan identified the missing relatives as Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and McKean's 8-year-old son, Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean. Hogan said at a news conference on Friday that he spoke with Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend about her missing relatives.
Kennedy Townsend, who served two terms as Maryland's lieutenant governor, is the eldest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
The search started Thursday afternoon after the state Natural Resources Police responded to a report of two people on a canoe in the Chesapeake Bay who appeared to be overtaken by strong winds.
A statement from the agency, which didn't name the missing people, said they may have been paddling the canoe from a home in Shady Side, Maryland, to retrieve a ball and couldn't paddle back to shore. An overturned canoe matching the one used by the missing people was found on Thursday night, the agency said.
Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman said “news of this tragedy hit me and my family hard this morning.”
“We are holding Kathleen and her family in the light, and holding our own loved ones a little closer as we reflect on their pain and their loss,” he said in a statement.
The Maryland State Police, U.S. Coast Guard, and local police and fire departments joined in the search, which was ongoing as of Friday afternoon.
