Nearly 50 years afterMary Jo Kopechne‘s body was found in a submerged car belonging to Sen.Ted Kennedy, ABC is devoting an hourto her strange death.
In an exclusive preview (above) from “The Girl In the Car,” the third episode in the network’s six-part docuseries1969, family and friends of Mary Jo recount the day of her Pennsylvania funeral. Outside massive crowds had gathered hoping to spot Kennedy, who was sporting a conspicuous neck brace, and wifeJoan Kennedy.
“Mary Jo’s parents were in a world of their own because they were heartbroken and their daughter was gone, their only child was gone,” her cousin recalls in the preview.
On the night of July 18, 1969, Kennedy, then 37, drove his car off a narrow wooden bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, just off of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
He escaped. But Kopechne, a 28-year-old former aide toRobert F. Kennedy, was trapped inside and died.
Ted claimed he left the party around 11:15 p.m. in order to drive Kopechne back to the ferry to return to Martha’s Vineyard. But he made a turn that led him in the opposite direction of the ferry landing, leading many to doubt his version of the events.
He later said that he “made immediate and repeated efforts” to rescue Kopechne but was unsuccessful, “succeed[ing] only in increasing my state of utter exhaustion and alarm.”
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In the ABC special airing Tuesday, John Farrar, the diver who pulled Kopechne’s body out of the water, as well as one of the local investigators, share why they believed Kopechne could have been saved had the crash been reported sooner.
The wreck in Chappaquiddick and the questions surrounding it are also the subject ofCover-Up, PEOPLE’s first podcast series with Cadence 13, released last year. The series is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and other platforms.
1969‘s “The Girl in the Car” airs Tuesday (10 p.m. ET) on ABC.
source: people.com
