(2 of 4)
Kennedy described how he frantically tried to open the door and how Mary Jo struggled to escape. But he could not recall how he got out of the car. Despite a brace on his back, he dove seven or eight times in a futile attempt to save Mary Jo. Then he made his way 1.2 miles back to the cottage.
In the Valiant, he drove back to the bridge with Gargan and Markham, who tried vainly to save Mary Jo. After driving to the ferry landing, Kennedy dove into the channel and swam the 500 feet to Edgartown. He walked to his motel, changed into dry clothes and collapsed on his bed. At 2:25 a.m. he spoke to Innkeeper Russell Peachey about the noise from a party near by. For reasons never fully explained, Kennedy told no one of the accident. The next morning he heard that his car had been discovered in Poucha Pond. Only then, ten hours after the accident, did he go to the police station to turn himself in.
THE DOUBTS
From the beginning, Kennedy's story inspired skepticism. His account was contradicted by the testimony of Deputy Sheriff Christopher F. ("Huck") Look Jr., who lived on Chappaquiddick. Driving home that night, Look saw a car cross in front of. him at about 12:45 a.m., stop in a lane called Cemetery Road, back up and go down Dike Road. Look noted that the car carried Massachusetts license L7—7; he forgot the middle numbers. Farther along the road, he came upon a man and two women who declined his offer of a ride.
At Dike Bridge the next morning, Look declared: "Gee, that is the same car I saw last night." Its registration number was L78-207. At the inquest, Kennedy insisted that he had been on the road more than an hour earlier and had encountered no other car. But LaRosa and the Lyons sisters confirmed that while out for a late-night stroll, they had been offered a ride.
At the inquest nearly six months later, the cookout crowd's memories were contradictory. But on two particulars, their memories were sharp and uniform: Kennedy drank only one or two rum-and-Cokes, and he left with Mary Jo between 11 and 11:45. In late July and again in early August 1969, Esther Newberg told TIME that she had not been aware at the time that the couple had even left the party. At the inquest, however, she said that Kennedy and Mary Jo had left at 11:30. How did she know? "I have a rather large watch that I wear all the time. I looked at it."
Moreover, many questions were raised by the Kennedy story. Was it likely that Mary Jo would leave for her motel without her pocketbook or room key? How could Kennedy mistake a rough dirt road for the paved road leading to the ferry? Why had he not sought help at the houses that he passed after the accident? Why did he refuse to answer further questions about the affair, telling reporters, as he did last week, "I can live with my testimony"?
THE CONTRADICTIONS
On two important matters, TIME correspondents have turned up evidence that contradicts Kennedy's account: