RFK Granddaughter, Her Son Vanish While Canoeing

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 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 had spoken with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend about the search, the AP reports. Kennedy Townsend, who served two terms as Maryland’s lieutenant governor, is the eldest child 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 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 to retrieve a ball and been unable to paddle back to shore. An overturned canoe matching the one used by the missing people was found Thursday night, the agency said. "News of this tragedy hit me and my family hard this morning," Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman said. "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."

(More Kathleen Kennedy Townsend stories.)