Rescue team locates JFK Jr. body 116 feet deep after near-abandonment of search
Coast Guard divers found John F. Kennedy Jr.'s remains 116 feet below the Atlantic, just before the search was set to end.
After four days of fruitless searching for the July 1999 plane crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren, Coast Guard teams were preparing to cease operations. High-resolution sonar then picked up a target, prompting divers to investigate. Captain W. Russell "Russ" Webster reported that Kennedy's body was found 116 feet beneath the ocean surface, roughly ten feet from the aircraft debris and seven miles from the Martha's Vineyard shoreline.
The Bessette sisters' bodies remained strapped in their seats, identified only by differing hair colors due to severe damage. Webster warned that further delay could have caused the remains to be swept away. The incident highlighted challenges posed by visual-flight rules and Kennedy's incomplete pilot training, factors cited in the NTSB investigation of the crash.
Why it matters
It reveals how advanced sonar saved a high-profile missing-person case that might otherwise have been lost.
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