NEW YORK -- After 20 years of silence, the parents of Mary Jo Kopechne say the only satisfaction they received in the aftermath of their daughter's drowning at Chappaquiddick is that it kept. Instead of reporting the accident to the police, Kennedy had searched for the body and decided to return to his hotel room around 2 a.m. after coming up empty-handed. Still, says Potoski, It doesnt answer all the questions. I raised my eyebrows because I expected much more water. Medscape reports that subsequent efforts to exhume Kopechnes remains for postmortem examination have been denied. They had worked in Ted's brother Bobby's ill-fated presidential campaign, compiling data on how Democratic delegates intended to vote. Mary Jo Kopechne's body was found inside. John N. Farrar, the captain of the Edgartown Fire Departments Scuba Search and Rescue Division, said that he found Kopechne with her head cocked back, face pressed into the foot well, hand holding onto the front edge of the back seat., By holding herself in such a position, Farrar believes that she was attempting to get to the remaining air in the car. This story is from the April 23, 2018 edition of National Enquirer. Ted was driving, and David Powers helped cover this up! dished the source. ATTORNEY ALEXANDRA LOZANO RADICALLY REINVENTED THE LAW FIRM TO CREATE OPPORTUNITY FOR CLIENTS, HERSELF, AND SMALL BUSINESSES FROM COAST TO COAST. Tapir briefly escapes enclosure at Florida zoo. 'I have told everything I know about the accident,' said Kennedy in the statement. She ultimately suffered a miscarriage, which she blamed on the incident. When Ted Kennedy died, I breathed a sigh of relief." SYND 11-12-69 MARY JO KOPECHNE PARENTS GIVE PRESS STATEMANT, (11 Dec 1969) Parents of Mary Jo Kopechne, who died in Edward Kennedy's car at Chappaquiddick Island, give press statement after court denies exhumation of her body Find out more about AP Archive: aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/fe6d64dcd5a09832cca6f6a23a40ebb1, Mary Jo Kopechne's cousin reacts to 'Chappaquiddick' film, Speculation continues about the circumstances surrounding Mary Jo Kopechne's death and Senator Ted Kennedy's actions. [She] was the most drowned person Ive ever seen, he told the New York Times. His presidency was destroyed, and his political legacy was . As one close Kennedy source states, 'Bobby came on to Mary Jo. After some miscommunication and confusion with friends at the party, the police were not called until morning. The film industry bible, Variety, hailed Chappaquiddick as the movie every liberal should see, its chief critic insisting those who ignore it are betraying their ideals. Many were suspicious about the odd mix of young secretaries all in their 20s and single and Teds thirtysomething friends, nearly all of them married, but solo that night, who attended the party on Chappaquiddick. Kennedy said that he was able to swim free of the vehicle, but that Kopechne was not. In the other, those who say nothing epitomises more the liberal hypocrisy over the Camelot myth of the Kennedys JFK and his brothers presiding over a glittering moment in Americas political history than Chappaquiddick. Deputy Sherriff Huck Look saw Teds car 90 minutes after Ted said his car went over the Dike Bridge. And on the evening of July 18, 1969, Neil Armstrong was hours away from doing just that. Ted Kennedys repeated refusal over the decades to talk about it spawned myriad conspiracy theories. Both liberals and conservatives cant keep shouting at the other side without taking a pretty hard, unvarnished look at their own heroes, he says. Even the five other boiler room girls have never revealed what happened at the party. In an interview in 1988, the late Mr Gargan who became estranged from the Kennedys after Chappaquiddick claimed Ted had tried to hatch a scenario in which Mr Gargan discovered the accident, and informed the police that Miss Kopechne had left the party alone and driven off. Kennedy suffered a concussion but was able to escape when his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 flipped up-side-down and sank. Now, nearly fifty years after the incident at Chappaquiddick, almost a decade after Ted Kennedy's death, a film about Mary Jo's death and the aftermath called 'Chappaquiddick' is opening in theaters across the country on Friday. That didnt stop him from making 17 phone calls to family, friends, aides and even his father Joe when he got back to his hotel. According to her cousin and closest living relative, Georgetta Potoski, 79, Mary Jo was never supposed to go to Chappaquiddick that weekend. Potoski tells PEOPLE Kopechne had a work obligation in New Orleans that was going to prevent her from attending the reunion party for her fellow campaign workers in Sen. Robert F. Kennedys presidential run. As a result, there are some who have speculated that theres more to Kopechnes death that meets the eye. Search instead in Creative? Kopechne was one of the "Boiler Room girls," a group of accomplished women who worked for Robert's presidential campaign, gathering campaign information in designated regions of the country and. Showing Editorial results for mary jo kopechne. It would be nice if somebody spoke up. But she also told McCalls Magazine that she believed Kennedy had been behaving erratically after the accident due to shock and a minor concussion. She hails from Reading where she liveswith her partner Niall and a beautiful daughter, Frankie. On 17th July, 1969, Kopechne joined several other women who had worked for the Kennedy family and attended a party at the Lawrence Cottage. For more on the Chappaquiddick scandal, listen to PEOPLEs podcast Cover-Up on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play or wherever podcasts are available. Faith Whittlesey, a Pennsylvania Republican and White House staff member under President Reagan, recalled thinking the incident would be the end of Kennedy, and that he could be blocked from the presidency for the rest of his career. ted only informed authorities of his involvement after the car and mary jos body were located, though he passed several houses and opportunities to call for police or medical help. Young girls swarmed around Ted's car. His driver's license was suspended for a year. His 28-year-old passenger had been a member of his late brother Bobbys staff one of a group of six known as boiler room girls. The Kopechnes did not go to court over their daughter's death but accepted a $90,904 settlement from Kennedy and $50,000 from an insurance company. Kennedy would later claim that he didnt immediately do so because he was concussed and confused. She didnt drown. If he hadnt known she was asleep in the back seat, why didnt they just say that?. 20:25 EST 13 Apr 2018 At one point, I think it was in the stable at Hickory Hill, Ethel caught Bobby and Mary Jo in an embrace, which Bobby excused as a pat on the back for Mary Jo's good work.'. Likewise, it is never established whether Kopechne was pregnant or exhibited signs of recent sexual activity. I felt I was definitely a friend, but not necessarily with her.'. But by the end of the night, the festivities had turned tragic: Kennedys car overturned on a small bridge and landed upside-down in the water. Kopechnes undertaker Eugene Frieh was also surprised by how little water was in her lungs. His insistence that he didnt raise the alarm at nearby houses because he thought nobody was in was ridiculed when it became clear that at least two of them had lights on. Maybe now Mary Jo will be brought to the forefront and remembered not just for how she died but for who she was.'. NEW YORK -- After 20 years of silence, the parents of Mary Jo Kopechne say the only satisfaction they received in the aftermath of their daughter's drowning at Chappaquiddick is that it kept Sen. Edward M. Kennedy 'from becoming president.'. They said she would not have been unfaithful to him because, the mother explained, 'She wasn't a fickle girl.'. Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick Bombshell Mary Jo Was Pregnant Lost documents exposes sick . The second thing was she had taken a job working for Matt Reese, a political consultant. And Ted was not aware Mary Jo was asleep in the back.. I was unfamiliar with the road and turned onto Dyke Road instead of bearing left on Main Street, he recounted. Cookie Settings, Kennedy for his part claimed in his autobiography. I came to the surface and then repeatedly dove down to the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car. twenty eight year old mary jo, an ex-campaigner for senator robert kennedy, met the formers brother ted at a political celebration on chappaquiddick island. The judge, James Boyle, sentenced Kennedy to the statutory minimum of two months, which he suspended, stating, 'He's already been, and will continue to be punished far beyond anything this court will impose.'. He has already been and will continue to be punished far beyond anything this court can imposethe ends of justice would be satisfied by the imposition of the minimum jail sentence and the suspension of that sentence, assuming the defendant accepts the suspension, Boyle said, with the result that the suspension was accepted by the defense team. And then there was talk of a cover-up, of Kennedy and his press team attempting to downplay the incident so as not to harm his future political aspirations. Many believe the accident at Chappaquiddick changed presidential history by keeping Ted from the White House. That said, the details around Kopecnhes death have led to subsequent investigations and speculation about the timeline of events that night. HOPEFUL hunk Jason Sudeikis buried the hatchet with baby mama Olivia Wilde and has his heart set on a romantic reunion but the cranky cougar is still bristling over her bitter bust-up with toyboy Harry Styles, sources squeal. Kopechnes body was discovered the day after the accident, shortly before Kennedy reported it to the police. In the immediate aftermath of the car accident, the nationand the mediawere largely distracted by the Apollo 11 moon landing. | Wherever Ted is, we hope he's resting peacefully. Adds Potoski, his mom: Mary Jos parents never had her final hours explained to them. I felt strongly that if these girls were notified that an accident had taken place and Mary Jo had, in fact, drowned, that it would only be a matter of seconds before all of those girls, who were long and dear friends of Mary Jos, would go to the scene of the accident and enter the water with, I felt, a good chance that some serious mishap might have occurred to any one of them, he told author Leo Damore. Kopechne, who grew up in New Jersey, had volunteered for John F. Kennedy 's presidential campaign while in college. 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