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Lawyer, Kennedy friend involved in Chappaquiddick crash dies

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PEABODY, Mass. (AP) — A former federal prosecutor who was on Chappaquiddick Island the night of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy’s fateful car crash has died.

An obituary posted by the Gately Funeral Home says Paul Markham died July 13 in Peabody, Massachusetts. A funeral was held July 18, the 50th anniversary of the 1969 crash. He was 89.

Markham was one of the few people Kennedy told that night about driving his car off a bridge, killing Mary Jo Kopechne. Markham dove unsuccessfully into the waters to try to locate Kopechne.

The following day, he went with Kennedy to provide a statement to police after the senator failed to report the crash.

Markham was appointed a federal prosecutor by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He served as U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts until months before the Chappaquiddick crash.