A Maine grandmother and her two young grandchildren died tragically this week after their vehicle left the roadway while they were traveling back from their father’s wedding, authorities said.
Maine State Police said the bodies of Sharon Bukulmez, 61, along with 5-year-old Kinley Grubb and 3-year-old Sawyer Grubb, were recovered Sunday from a submerged vehicle in a Roque Bluffs pond.
The three were last seen at about 8:30 p.m. the previous evening. Bukulmez had been driving the children to an Airbnb after their father’s wedding, Peter Grubb told local station WMTW.
Grubb said his mother appeared to have died while trying to rescue the children from the vehicle.
“They were the best pair of kids a father could ask for,” Grubb said. He added that the knowledge that his children knew how profoundly they were loved has brought him “a slight sense of peace.”
Police began searching after Bukulmez and the children failed to reach their Airbnb in Machias and were reported missing that night.
During the search, the Bar Harbor Police Department obtained location data from Bukulmez’s cellphone. The information pointed to water near the boat ramp at the end of Schoppee Point Road in Roque Bluffs, police spokesperson Shannon Moss said in a news release.
Authorities located the submerged car in Pond Cove at approximately 7 a.m. Sunday.
Friends and relatives described Bukulmez as a compassionate woman who devoted herself to those she loved.
The loss has been particularly devastating for Grubb, whom those close to him remembered as a deeply devoted father.
“I think that was the thing we wanted most in life was to have his own family, to have kids,” Alec Jeannotte told News Center Maine.
“Pete was a great father, as he was a great friend.”
Investigators have not determined how the vehicle wound up in the pond.
In 2013, two hikers died after their vehicle entered the water near the same boat launch.
Although the ramp is marked, state Rep. Tiffany Strout said on Facebook that she would work with the town or the State Department of Transportation if necessary to improve the signs and more clearly warn drivers that the ramp leads directly to the water.
