“They were the best pair of kids a father could ask for,” he said of his late children
NEED TO KNOW
- After a grandmother and two children were found dead in a submerged vehicle on Sept. 20, her son said that the 61-year-old woman died trying to help the children escape the vehicle
- Family members reported the trio missing after they failed to arrive at their Airbnb following the man’s wedding
- Now, others are paying tribute to his mom’s generosity
A dad says his mom and his two young kids were found dead in a submerged vehicle shortly after attending his wedding. Now, loved ones are speaking out about the grandmother’s history of generosity.
The bodies of 61-year-old woman Sharon Bukulmez, of Mount Desert, and 5-year-old Kinley Grubb and 3-year-old Sawyer Grubb, both of Bar Harbor, were found in Pond Cove on Sunday, Sept. 20, according to a news release from the Maine State Police.
The three were last seen around 8:30 p.m. local time the previous night while leaving the family event in Jonesboro. That night, they were headed to nearby Machias, but never arrived.
Autopsies will be performed to determine the cause and manner of death.
Peter Grubb, Bukulmez’s son and the children’s father, told local outlet WMTW that his mother left his wedding with his two children, but they never arrived at the Airbnb where they were expected to stay.
After family members reported them missing, law enforcement began attempting to locate Bukulmez and the children.
“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.
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The submerged vehicle was found around 7 a.m. on Sunday — and Grubb told WMTW that his mother died trying to help the children escape the vehicle.
“They were the best pair of kids a father could ask for,” he said, adding that knowing his children understood how deeply they were loved has given him “a slight sense of peace.”
Grubb also remembered his late mother, who worked at Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, as a deeply caring person who dedicated her life to helping others, per WMTW.
The father’s best friends — Ryan Lynde, Alec Jeannotte and Wade Lyman — shared similar memories of Bukulmez, NBC affiliate WCSH reported. The men spent many hours in the family’s home on Maine’s Mount Desert Island when they were teens.
“At that age, we’re all kind of a little lost, and we had a space. Sharon created this space for us,” Jeannotte told the outlet. Following Grubb’s own loving childhood, he yearned for children of his own.
“I think that was the thing we wanted most in life was to have his own family, to have kids,” Jeannotte told WCSH. The three men attended Grubb’s wedding on Sept. 19. Lynde described it as “the most beautiful evening you could ask for.”
Now, they hope to honor the woman who showed them so much love when they were teens, according to the report.
“Sharon would want us to kind of foster that community, you know, carry that torch forward,” Jeannotte told WCSH.
While no additional information surrounding the incident is being released at this time, their deaths remain under investigation. The Maine State Police and Maine’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for further comment.
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