5. Kennedy Confessed to Being the Driver 10 Hours After the Accident
After being confronted yet again with a local telling him a dead girl had been discovered in his car, Senator Kennedy finally went to the Edgartown police station around 10 a.m. on July 19th, at least 10 hours after he claimed the accident took place. His cousin, Joe Gargan, was dispatched to tell the boiler room girls, still sleeping at the rented cabin, about what had occurred. Paul F. Markham stayed with Kennedy at the police station, where he was treated with deference and respect by the local chief of police who immediately recognized him as both his Senator and a Kennedy.
Kennedy didn’t answer questions but dictated a message to Markham which he turned over to the chief of police with the demand that it not be released to the public or press. The statement, in full, reads:
On July 18, 1969, at approximately 11:15 p.m. in Chappaquiddick, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, I was driving my car on Main Street on my way to get the ferry back to Edgartown. I was unfamiliar with the road and turned right onto Dike Road, instead of bearing hard left on Main Street. After proceeding for approximately one-half mile on Dike Road, I descended a hill and came upon a narrow bridge. The car went off the side of the bridge. There was one passenger with me, one Miss Mary, a former secretary of my brother Sen. Robert Kennedy. The car turned over and sank into the water and landed with the roof resting on the bottom. I attempted to open the door and the window of the car but have no recollection of how I got out of the car. I came to the surface and then repeatedly dove down to the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car. I was unsuccessful in the attempt. I was exhausted and in a state of shock. I recall walking back to where my friends were eating. There was a car parked in front of the cottage, and I climbed into the backseat. I then asked for someone to bring me back to Edgartown. I remember walking around for a period and then going back to my hotel room. When I fully realized what had happened this morning, I immediately contacted the police.