More Kennedy Tragedy: RFK's Missing Granddaughter & Her Son 'Have Passed'

The search for Robert F. Kennedy's missing granddaughter, Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and her young son Gideon has been called off, People magazine reports.

David McKean, Maeve's husband, shared on Facebook that "despite heroic efforts by the Coast Guard and many state and local authorities, the decision has been made to suspend the active rescue effort."

Maeve and Gideon went missing in the Chesapeake Bay Thursday, and were feared drowned in a canoeing accident. A search ensued, but without good results.

McKean wrote that "the search for their recovery will continue."

Explaining what happened, he went on to say, "We were self-quarantining in an empty house owned by Maeve's mother Kathleen on the Chesapeake Bay, hoping to give our kids more space than we have at home in DC to run around. Gideon and Maeve were playing kickball by the small, shallow cove behind the house, and one of them kicked the ball into the water. The cove is protected, with much calmer wind and water than in the greater Chesapeake. They got into a canoe, intending simply to retrieve the ball, and somehow got pushed by wind or tide into the open bay. About 30 minutes later they were spotted by an onlooker from land, who saw them far out from shore, and called the police. After that last sighting, they were not seen again. The Coast Guard recovered their canoe, which was capsized and miles away, at approximately 6:30 yesterday evening."

McKean remembered Gideon as 8 going on 38, "deeply compassionate, declining to sing children's songs if they contained a hint of animals or people being treated cruelly. He hated if I accidently let a bad word slip. He spent hours upstairs reading, learning everything he could about sports, and trying to decipher the mysteries of the stock market. But he was also incredibly social, athletic, and courageous."

He called his wife "my everything... my best friend and my soulmate."

He also went on to describe the grief of their 7-year-old daughter Gabriella, and the innocence of their son Toby, 2. "It breaks my heart that he will not get to have them as a mother and brother."