Body of Maeve Kennedy Townsend recovered, search for her son to continue

[April 07, 2020]    (Reuters) - The body of Maeve Kennedy Townsend, the granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, was recovered on Monday evening and the search for her son will continue, the Maryland Natural Resources Police said.

The daughter of former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, 40, and her son, Gideon McKean, 8, went missing on Friday after drifting out into the Chesapeake Bay on a canoe.

Charles County Dive and Rescue, one of the agencies searching for them, located Townsend's body in about 25 feet of water, 2.5 miles (4 km) south of her mother's residence in Shady Side, Maryland, where the canoe was launched.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police said it would resume the operation on Tuesday to search for Townsend's son.

The Anne Arundel County Fire Department had received a call last Thursday at about 4:30 p.m. reporting that two people in a small canoe or kayak were drifting into Chesapeake Bay.

Rescuers were sent to the area and a search began. At around 7 p.m. the canoe and a paddle were found, but not the missing people.

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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