One more day might have left the Kennedys without a final goodbye. More than 27 years after the crash that killed John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and her sister, the search commander’s account raises a haunting possibility. He says Kennedy was found outside the wreckage, where another day could have meant losing him forever to the Atlantic’s curr…
On July 16, 1999, Kennedy, 38, was piloting a Piper Saratoga toward Martha’s Vineyard with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, 33, and Lauren Bessette, 34, aboard. Their disappearance triggered an enormous search before sonar located the wreckage approximately 116 feet underwater. Retired Coast Guard Capt. W. Russell “Russ” Webster told the New York Post that Kennedy’s body lay about 10 feet outside the aircraft, while the sisters were inside. His account differs from contemporary reporting and suggests currents might have carried Kennedy away had recovery been delayed.
Investigators determined that Kennedy lost control during a nighttime descent over water because of spatial disorientation. Webster and his wife, maritime historian Theresa Mitchell Webster, revisit the search in their book, The Last Flight, following years of research. Their account shifts attention from decades of speculation to the people who searched—and to two grieving families whose loved ones were finally brought home.
