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Maeve was an adjunct professor in bioethics and human rights and was executive director of the Georgetown University Global Health Initiative. She also served on the boards of the Brady Campaign, a gun control nonprofit, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights charity.

Maryland State Police, the U.S. Coast Guard and local police and fire departments took part in the search.

Townsend served as lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003.

\"PHOTO:
Mike Pont/Getty Images for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
PHOTO: David McKean, Maeve Kennedy Townsend Mckean and family attend the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Hosts 2019 Ripple Of Hope Gala & Auction, in New York City, on Dec. 12, 2019.
>

The Kennedy family has a long history of tragic incidents. In addition to the deaths of Robert F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, the president's son, John F. Kennedy Jr., and his wife were killed in a plane crash in July 1999. Robert F. Kennedy's son, David, died of a drug overdose in 1984, and another of Robert's son, Michael, died in a skiing accident in 1997.

It was just last August that Saoirse Roisin Kennedy Hill, also a granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, died of an accidental drug overdose at the Kennedy family compound in Massachusetts.

ABC News' Kendall Karson contributed to this report.

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