Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has asked the U.S. Navy to help investigate the sinking of a fishing boat that killed seven crew members earlier this year, the Navy and the governor’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Healey and state Sen. Bruce Tarr sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy this week asking for help in recovering video recorders and hard drives from the January wreck of the Lily Jean, which lies more than 300 feet deep in the Atlantic Ocean about 25 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, which could determine the cause of the sinking.
“Governor Healey asked the Navy to retrieve a piece of equipment on the ship that could have provided critical information that led to the ship’s sinking,” Healey’s office told Fox News Digital on Saturday. “She also asked the Navy to evaluate the feasibility of recovering the remains of the missing sailors based on the wishes of each family.”
The governor’s office added that Healey “previously asked the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate the equipment on the ship, but unfortunately, the NTSB told us they do not plan to lead an effort to recover the equipment.”
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Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey asked the U.S. Navy for help investigating the sinking of a fishing boat earlier this year that killed seven crew members.
(Getty Images)
A spokesman for the Office of the Secretary of the Navy told Fox News Digital, “The Office of the Secretary of the Navy has received the letter. A response is being prepared and will be forwarded directly to the governor’s office.”
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Lilly Jean Captain Acousio “Gus” Sanfilippo’s body is the only one that has been recovered.
The other six victims of the Jan. 30 sinking were crew member Paul Beal Jr.; crew member John Russanidis; crew member Freeman Short; crew member Sean Therrien; and NOAA Fisheries observer Jada Samitt.
Freeman Short, 31, was planning her wedding and her mother, Donna Short, told WFXT: “It doesn’t matter what caused the accident, what matters is rescuing the crew.”
She said she spoke to him days before he embarked on the doomed trip.
“He told me, ‘Hey, Mom, you know I’m going to,’ and I told him I loved him,” she said, adding that restoring his body was “allowing him to rest in peace where his legacy began, with his grandfathers both being veterans.”
Placards honoring the crew of the Lily Jean are displayed at the Gloucester Fishermen’s Memorial on January 31, 2026 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
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The National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Coast Guard are involved in the ongoing investigation of the sinking.
The Coast Guard’s search for the missing crew member was suspended on January 31, the day after the shipwreck, and the NTSB said it would not proceed with the search, WFXT reported.
Coast Guard watchstanders received emergency position instructions as the Lily Jean sank, and the ship received an EPIRB alert at approximately 6:50 a.m.
U.S. Coast Guard crews attempted to contact the vessel but after receiving no response, an Emergency Marine Information Broadcast (UMIB) was issued, according to officials.
Multiple aircraft, speedboats and small boats searched an area of ​​1,047 square miles over a 24-hour period and found the wreckage near the EPIRB launch location, along with the captain’s body and a deployed unmanned life raft.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey talks with U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jamie Frederick after a news conference in Gloucester on January 31, 2026. The Coast Guard called off the search for the fishing vessel Lily Jean, which had seven crew members on board.
The search and rescue mission coordinator, on-scene commander and Coast Guard determined on January 31 that all reasonable search efforts for the missing crew member had been exhausted.
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“The purpose of the Coast Guard investigation is to identify measures that can improve the safety of life and property at sea and not to pursue civil or criminal liability,” the Coast Guard wrote in a statement at the time.
Fox News’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
Original source of the article: Massachusetts governor asks U.S. Navy to help recover bodies and evidence from sunken fishing boat
