Navy Asked to Recover Bodies Left Behind After Catastrophic Sinking

Liberty Check

• Massachusetts governor requests U.S. Navy assistance to retrieve six crew members still trapped in sunken fishing vessel over 300 feet underwater
• Coast Guard suspended search efforts just one day after the tragic January sinking, leaving grieving families without closure
• Critical evidence including video recorder and hard drive remain unretrieved, preventing investigators from determining what caused the deadly disaster

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has formally requested U.S. Navy intervention to recover the bodies of six fishermen and critical evidence from a commercial fishing vessel that sank in January, leaving seven crew members dead.

The Lily Jean, a 72-foot fishing boat, went down more than 300 feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean approximately 25 miles off the Massachusetts coast on January 30. Only one body—that of Captain Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo—has been recovered.

Healey and State Sen. Bruce Tarr sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy this week seeking assistance in retrieving a video recorder and hard drive from the wreckage that could reveal what caused the catastrophic sinking. A Navy spokesperson confirmed receipt of the correspondence and stated that a response is being prepared for the governor’s office.

The six crew members still trapped in the sunken vessel include Paul Beal Jr., John Rousanidis, Freeman Short, Sean Therrien, and NOAA fisheries observer Jada Samitt.

Donna Short, mother of 31-year-old Freeman Short, who was planning his wedding before the tragedy, spoke about the anguish of not being able to lay her son to rest.

“What caused it is not as important as retrieving the crew,” she said.

She recalled their final conversation just days before the doomed voyage.

“He told me, ‘Hey mom, you know I’m going to be going,’ and I told him I loved him.”

Short emphasized that recovering her son’s body is crucial for proper burial.

“A matter of laying him to rest where his legacy began next to both of his grandfathers, who are veterans.”

The National Transportation Safety Board and U.S. Coast Guard are conducting an ongoing investigation into the sinking. However, the Coast Guard suspended its search for missing crew members on January 31—just one day after the vessel went down—and the NTSB has stated it does not conduct body recoveries.

Coast Guard watchstanders received an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) alert at approximately 6:50 a.m. on January 30, registered to the Lily Jean. After attempts to contact the vessel failed, an urgent marine information broadcast was issued.

Multiple aircraft, cutters, and small boats searched 1,047 square miles over 24 hours, discovering debris near where the EPIRB was activated, along with Captain Sanfilippo’s body and an unoccupied life raft that had deployed from the vessel.

On January 31, search and rescue coordinators determined that all reasonable search efforts had been exhausted.

“The purpose of a Coast Guard investigation is to identify measures that can improve the safety of life and property at sea, not to assign civil or criminal blame,” the Coast Guard wrote in a statement at the time.

The families of the lost crew members now wait for answers and the opportunity to bring their loved ones home for proper burial—a closure that remains out of reach more than three months after the tragedy.

These families deserve better.