Nation: The Kopechnes: Awaiting Answers

MR. and Mrs. Joseph Kopechne declared themselves “satisfied” last month by Edward Kennedy’s televised explanation of the events surrounding their daughter’s death. But now Mary Jo’s parents feel bitter, ignored and increasingly puzzled. “I’m waiting to get an awful lot of answers,” Mrs. Kopechne told TIME’S David Whiting last week. She and her husband, who live in Berkeley Heights, N.J., are considering attending the Sept. 3 inquest at Edgartown in the hope of getting the answers they want.

The Kopechnes are especially bewildered by the silence of the five other girls, all friends of Mary Jo’s, who attended the Chappaquiddick party. “The girls know they could lessen the heartache we have by giving some answers,” Mrs. Kopechne said. Her husband shook his head: “Those girls aren’t going to talk.” The Kopechnes simply want the girls to tell them what occurred at the party and how and why Mary Jo left it.

“There are two sides here,” Mrs. Kopechne continued. “Mr. Kopechne and I on this side and the Kennedy name on the other. Everybody is on that side.” Mary Jo’s parents accept Kennedy’s explanation of his delay in reporting the accident. “I can understand shock,” Mrs. Kopechne said. “But I cannot understand Mr. Gargan and Mr. Markham. They weren’t in shock. Why didn’t they get help? That’s where my questions start.” The couple is curious as to how Kennedy could return unnoticed to the cottage after the accident. Assuming that Kennedy was in shock, Mrs. Kopechne asks, why did he walk down to the lobby dressed in fresh clothes and ask the time?

Even though the Kopechnes are depending upon the inquest to explain the circumstances of Mary Jo’s death more precisely, they last week hired a lawyer to fight legal moves by Massachusetts District Attorney Edmund Dinis to have their daughter’s body exhumed and an autopsy performed. “What could an autopsy prove now?” Mrs. Kopechne asked. “It’s all turned into a political issue.”

The constant siege of reporters has added to the strain. “I’m just not getting any housework done,” Mrs. Kopechne complained. In a way, though, the press does help. “You people have kept us on our toes,” she said. “Every once in a while, we get angry and we get mad, and this mad anger we wake up with sustains us through the day. We’ve reached a breaking point many times, but I’m controlling myself for my husband and he’s controlling himself for me. It’s holding us together.” The worst time for them is at night, after their neighbors and friends have gone and the noise of crickets washes over the house. “My husband doesn’t sleep,” Mrs. Kopechne said. “We try to find ways to avoid going to bed. We walk around and keep the lights on. When we finally go to bed and the lights are out, we can’t help thinking.”