Alaskan authorities announced that the remains of three of four missing family members have been recovered from a sunken boating vessel.
The Maynard family, from Troy, Texas, disappeared almost a year ago after the boat they shared with another family capsized in south-central Alaskan waters.
But after the Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team was unsuccessful in locating the family and the vessel, Wildlife Troopers listed 42-year-old David Maynard, 37-year-old Mary Maynard, 11-year-old Colton Maynard, and 8-year-old Brantley Maynard as missing persons.
“We send a heartfelt thank you to the Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team for their diligent and persistent work on this situation," Texas state Rep. Brad Buckley told NTD in a statement.
Earlier in May, a private Support Vessels of Alaska research boat known as Poseidon traveled 28 kilometers from shore into the middle of Homer Harbor waters, where Benthic Geoscience Inc, another private Alaskan company, located the vessel 180 feet underwater with the assistance of multi-beamed sonar equipment and acoustic imagery. Vision Subsea’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was then used to positively identify the vessel as the missing boat with the remains onboard, according to Benthic Geoscience Inc. owner David Oliver.
State divers then recovered the three sets of human remains underwater on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
When asked about the remains of the fourth missing family member, Oliver told NTD on May 30, “Several hatches were open and that could have been a possible egress point for the body. I don’t think there were any survivors.”
Mary Maynard was a traveling nurse while her husband was a stay-at-home father to their two sons.
"Dave Mastolier, the owner of Support Vessels of Alaska, had developed a relationship with relatives of the Maynard family and it was really important to them to bring a little bit of closure," Oliver added. "I hired Vision Subsea to go down with their ROV and confirm that we had the right vessel. I did not want to point the family in the wrong direction. This was an act of compassion and the last thing I wanted was to be wrong."
The State Medical Examiner’s Office is currently performing autopsies on the three sets of remains.
"When we sent the ROV down, we did it to identify the boat and we were surprised to see remains in the boat," Support Vessels of Alaska president Dave Mastolier told NTD on May 30. "I would've thought the crabs and sand fleas would've eaten everything."
Buckley said the Maynard family members were beloved members of their Texas community.
“While it does not make the loss of the Maynard family any easier to bear, there is relief in knowing that they will be able to be laid to rest in a meaningful way now that they have been found,” Buckley added.
Relatives of the Maynard family did not respond to requests for comment by press time.