Three sets of remains were recovered Wednesday, May 28, from a vessel that sunk in Kachemak Bay near Homer in August.
Four passengers from Waco, Texas — David Maynard, 42, his wife Mary Maynard, 37, and their sons, 11-year-old Colton and 8-year-old Brantley Maynard — have all been reported as missing persons since then.
According to previous reporting by the Homer News, on Aug. 3, a 28-foot aluminum vessel with eight people on board was reported taking on water 16 miles west of Homer. A Good Samaritan boat, the Salty Sea, rescued four passengers from a life raft that was carried with the capsized boat.
At the time, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Naushon conducted a grid search pattern in the area where the capsize took place. The Coast Guard also launched a C-130J Hercules airplane crew and an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak and two 29-foot response vessels.
The Alaska Dive, Search, Rescue, and Recovery Team attempted to use sonar equipment to locate the vessel but were ultimately unsuccessful during their initial search.
Alaska State Troopers and multiple Good Samaritan vessel crews also assisted with search efforts, according to a Coast Guard release issued at the time, with the search for the missing boat and passengers suspended after 24 hours.
According to a May 28 Alaska State Trooper dispatch, Support Vessels of Alaska, Vision Subsea, and Benthic Geoscience Inc. contacted the Alaska Wildlife Troopers in April and offered use of their professional tools to conduct additional searching in Kachemak Bay for the missing vessel and the Maynard family.
The group was able to locate the vessel in 180 feet of water, the dispatch said. Using a remotely operated vehicle, they were able to positively identify it as the missing boat. On May 27 and May 28, volunteers from the Alaska Dive Search, Rescue, and Recovery Team, along with the assistance of the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, conducted dive operations, recovering three sets of remains from the sunken vessel, and transporting them to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for identification and autopsy.
This is a developing story.
