Peter Grubb is speaking out after his mother and two young children drowned when their car sank into a Maine pond while driving back from his wedding.
The grieving father, whose nuptials turned to horror last Saturday night, told Portland ABC affiliate WMTW that his mother Sharon Bukulmez, 61, died trying to rescue his trapped kids from the submerged vehicle. The bodies of Bukulmez, 5-year-old Kinley Grubb and 3-year-old Sawyer Grubb were recovered from Pond Cove in Roque Bluffs early Sunday morning, Maine State Police confirmed.
The trio vanished after leaving the wedding reception around 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Bukulmez had been tasked with driving Kinley and Sawyer to an Airbnb in Machias while the newlywed couple stayed behind, according to what Grubb told WMTW. When they never arrived, family members reported them missing, triggering a search that would end in devastation.
“They were the best pair of kids a father could ask for,” Grubb told the station. He added that knowing his children understood how deeply they were loved has given him “a slight sense of peace.”
Police spokesperson Shannon Moss said in a news release that investigators obtained location data from Bukulmez’s cellphone through the Bar Harbor Police Department. The ping pointed to a spot in the water near the boat ramp at the end of Schoppee Point Road. Divers located the vehicle at 7 a.m. Sunday.
How the car entered the pond remains under investigation. The boat launch area has proved deadly before: two hikers died in 2013 when their vehicle went into the water at the same site.
State Rep. Tiffany Strout addressed the danger on Facebook this week, writing that she is willing to work with local officials or the State Department of Transportation to improve warning signage around the ramp.
“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,” Strout posted.
Friends who knew Grubb described him as a man who had long dreamed of fatherhood. Alec Jeannotte told News Center Maine that building a family was what Grubb wanted most in life.
“I think that was the thing we wanted most in life was to have his own family, to have kids,” Jeannotte said. “Pete was a great father, as he was a great friend.”
The double loss of his new wife’s wedding day and his children’s lives has left the community reeling. Those who knew Bukulmez remembered her as a devoted grandmother who put her family first — a characterization underscored by Grubb’s belief that she spent her final moments fighting to free Kinley and Sawyer from the sinking car.
The Maine State Police investigation into the cause of the crash continues.