The daughter of former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, 40, and her son, Gideon McKean, 8, went missing on Friday after drifting out into the Chesapeake Bay on a canoe.

Charles County Dive and Rescue, one of the agencies searching for them, located Townsend’s body in about 7.6m of water, 4km south of her mother’s residence in Shady Side, Maryland, where the canoe was launched.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police said it would resume the operation on Tuesday to search for Townsend’s son.

The Anne Arundel County Fire Department had received a call last Thursday at about 4.30pm reporting that two people in a small canoe or kayak were drifting into Chesapeake Bay.

Rescuers were sent to the area and a search began.

At around 7pm the canoe and a paddle were found, but not the missing people.