Ann Messina Freeman died in 2007, while William Bessette lived quietly out of the public eye and his death has not been publicly documented in any reliable way.

Quick Scoop: What Happened To Carolyn Bessetteā€™s Parents?

Who were her parents?

  • Mother: Ann Messina (later Ann Messina Freeman), born 1939 in Rhode Island, worked as a teacher/administrator in the New York City public school system.
  • Father: William J. Bessette, born 1942, an architectural engineer and cabinetā€‘maker based around White Plains, New York.
  • They married in 1963 and had three daughters: twins Lauren and Lisa (1964) and Carolyn (1966).
  • The couple divorced when Carolyn was about eight; Ann moved with the girls to Connecticut, while William stayed in White Plains.

After the 1999 plane crash

When Carolyn, her sister Lauren, and John F. Kennedy Jr. died in the 1999 plane crash, both parents were thrust into intense media scrutiny despite having been very private before.

  • Ann, her second husband Dr. Richard Freeman, and William issued a rare joint statement calling John and Carolyn ā€œtrue soulmatesā€ and saying that together they would ā€œcomfort Lauren for eternity.ā€
  • Ann later said through her lawyer that the loss of her daughters ā€œforever changedā€ their lives and that they were struggling with grief and wanted to protect what little privacy they had left.
  • Reporting at the time described Ann as cutting many social ties in her grief, and she was quoted as saying, ā€œI used to have twins,ā€ underlining how shattered she was by losing Lauren and Carolyn.

Ann also brought a wrongful-death suit against JFK Jr.ā€™s estate on behalf of Lauren and Carolyn, seeking damages for their deaths and conscious pain and suffering.

  • The case was settled out of court; some reports speculated about a figure around 15 million dollars, but her legal team publicly disputed those exact numbers and the final terms remain confidential.

What specifically happened to them?

  • Ann Messina Freeman:
    • Lived quietly in Old Greenwich, Connecticut with her husband Dr. Richard Freeman after the tragedy, avoiding the spotlight as much as possible.
* Died on April 24, 2007, at the age of 67.

* Public coverage emphasizes that she never really recovered from the loss of her daughters and largely stepped back from social life.
  • William J. Bessette:
    • Remained intensely private and largely disappeared from public view after the crash.
* Contemporary accounts and later forum discussions describe him as ā€œdevastatedā€ and withdrawn, with neighbors reportedly worried about him after he lost both Carolyn and Lauren.

* He attended memorial services but avoided media attention, and reputable outlets note that details of his later life and death have not been publicly confirmed.

In short, what happened is less a dramatic twist and more a story of two parents who outlived their daughters, retreated from public life, and coped with their grief in privateā€”Ann dying in 2007 and William fading from view with no verified public record of his death.

TL;DR: After the 1999 crash, Carolyn Bessetteā€™s parents, Ann Messina Freeman and William Bessette, issued a brief joint statement, grieved intensely in private, and avoided the spotlight; Ann died in 2007, while Williamā€™s later life and death remain largely undocumented in public records.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.