A Maine grandmother and her two young grandchildren tragically died this week after their car veered off the road while returning from their father’s wedding, police said.
The bodies of Sharon Bukulmez, 5-year-old Kinley Grubb and 3-year-old Sawyer Grubb were pulled from a car submerged in a Roque Bluffs pond Sunday, according to Maine State Police.
The trio was last seen around 8:30 p.m. the night before. Bukulmez was escorting the kids to an Airbnb from their father’s wedding, the heartbroken dad told local outlet WMTW.
His mother, 61, apparently died while desperately trying to free the trapped children, he said.
“They were the best pair of kids a father could ask for,” Peter Grubb told the outlet, adding that knowing his children understood how deeply they were loved has given him “a slight sense of peace.”
The grandmother and children were reported missing the night before when they failed to arrive at the Airbnb in Machias, police said.
“As part of that effort, the Bar Harbor Police Department obtained location information from Bukulmez’s cellphone, which indicated a location in the water near the boat ramp at the end of Schoppee Point Road in Roque Bluffs,” police spokesperson Shannon Moss said in the news release.
The submerged vehicle was found in Pond Cove at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Friends and family remembered Bukulmez as a dedicated and caring woman.
The tragedy is especially gut-wrenching for Grubb, whom loved ones described as a 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.”
It is not clear how the car ended up in the pond.
Two hikers were killed in 2013 when their vehicle entered the water near the same boat launch.
“Even though the ramp is marked, I am willing to work with the town or State DOT if needed, to make the signage more visible to better alert those driving in the area that the ramp leads to the water,” state Rep. Tiffany Strout said on Facebook this week.
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