Angela Chao, a shipping CEO and sister-in-law to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, was intoxicated when she drove into a pond at her Texas ranch last month, according to a report from the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office ruled Chao’s death an “unfortunate accident,” according to the report on the investigation released Wednesday. An autopsy was not performed on Chao, but a toxicology test revealed her blood alcohol concentration was nearly three times the legal limit in Texas.
Chao was the CEO of shipping company Foremost Group and the sister of Elaine Chao, the former Trump administration secretary of transportation who is married to McConnell.
Chao, 50, died Feb. 11 not long after having dinner with close friends on her 4,500-acre ranch in Johnson City, about 48 miles west of Austin. The group had gathered for a weekend at the property, which is home to multiple stock ponds, dwellings and buildings, the report said.
Chao left a guesthouse, where she had been spending time with friends, at 11:37 p.m. on Feb. 10. She entered the Tesla for a short drive back to her main residence on the property. Minutes later, security camera footage showed her Tesla Model X reverse over limestone blocks and go into the pond, the report said.
Not long after the Tesla entered the water, the vehicle’s lights were no longer visible.
At 11:42 p.m., a friend at the guesthouse received a call from Chao telling her that “she had driven her vehicle into the pond,” the report said. The friend told Chao to leave the car, but she said she couldn’t, the friend later told law enforcement.
The friend stayed on the phone with Chao for eight minutes, as she described water coming into the vehicle. As the water level in the car grew higher and higher, Chao “said her goodbyes,” her friend told authorities, according to the report.
The friend got into a kayak and paddled toward the Tesla, and another friend swam to the car, climbing on top of it and trying to reach Chao.
Just after midnight, law enforcement and firefighters arrived and started rescue operations. A sheriff’s deputy used a tool to break through a driver-side window of the Tesla and located Chao. An EMS worker attempted lifesaving measures, but Chao was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:40 a.m. on Feb. 11.
Chao was the youngest daughter of the Foremost Group’s founder and honorary chairman, James S.C. Chao.
According to Angela Chao’s website, she earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard College and a graduate degree from Harvard Business School (HBS). While attending HBS, Chao wrote a case study on ocean carriers that is still part of the required curriculum for first-year HBS students, according to the Foremost Group.
Chao joined the Foremost Group in 1996. Her father, a former sea captain born in China, founded the company in New York in 1964. She became chair and CEO in 2018.
The Foremost Group is a global dry bulk shipping company whose clients include Cargill Inc., Louis Dreyfus Commodities Rotterdam and NYK Line, according to the company. The Foremost Group has a fleet of 33 ships valued at $1.2 billion.
In a 2020 interview with FreightWaves, Chao discussed the effects the coronavirus pandemic could have on the global shipping industry.
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