Maine Grandmother and Two Young Grandchildren Found Dead in Submerged Vehicle After Wedding

A devastating tragedy in Maine has claimed the lives of a grandmother and her two young grandchildren after their vehicle was found submerged in the water at Pond Cove in Roque Bluffs.

The victims were identified as 61-year-old Sharon Bukulmez of Mount Desert and her grandchildren, 5-year-old Kinsley Grubb and 3-year-old Sawyer Grubb, both of Bar Harbor. The three had been traveling to an Airbnb in Machias after attending the wedding of the children’s father in Jonesboro.

The family became concerned when Bukulmez and the children failed to arrive at the Airbnb as expected. Relatives reported them missing, prompting authorities to begin searching for the vehicle and the three family members.

Investigators eventually received a critical clue from Bukulmez’s cellphone. According to Maine State Police, the Bar Harbor Police Department obtained location information from her phone that indicated a location in the water near the public boat ramp at the end of Schoppee Point Road in Roque Bluffs.

Maine State Police responded to the area with its Dive Team and Marine Patrol. At approximately 7 a.m. Sunday, investigators located a vehicle submerged in Pond Cove. The bodies of Bukulmez and both children were recovered from the vehicle.

The circumstances surrounding the tragedy remain under investigation. Authorities have not determined what caused the vehicle to enter the water, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was expected to conduct autopsies to establish the causes and manners of death. Police have said the deaths are not currently considered suspicious.

Peter Grubb, Bukulmez’s son and the children’s father, later told local media that investigators informed him his mother appeared to have been trying to help the children escape the submerged vehicle. That detail has not been independently confirmed by Maine State Police and should therefore be treated as a family-reported account.

The tragedy has also drawn renewed attention to the Roque Bluffs boat ramp. Local reports noted that the same area had been the scene of a fatal incident in 2013 involving a vehicle that entered the water. Following the deaths of Bukulmez and her grandchildren, a temporary barrier was installed at the ramp, with officials working toward a permanent gate.

For the Grubb family, the tragedy came just hours after what should have been a joyful wedding celebration. Their deaths have left relatives and the local community mourning a grandmother and two young children whose lives were cut tragically short.

The investigation remains ongoing as authorities work to determine exactly what happened before the vehicle entered the water.

Source: NY Post