CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – “That’s my dad!” Addison Thomas’ young daughter exclaimed as she pointed to the television. The news was running, and a man’s face was on the screen: Kevin McGrath, 26, was missing from the Carnival Conquest cruise line. Her mother raced to turn off the TV.
It’s been over three weeks since McGrath went missing in the early hours of Sept. 4 while spending time with many family members on a cruise, celebrating his father’s 60th birthday. When the family met for breakfast at 7:30 a.m., he was nowhere to be seen. The ship’s cameras and overboard detection system, however, showed no indication that McGrath went overboard during the cruise from Miami to the Bahamas.
An “extensive search” of the ship completed after the vessel docked in Miami that Monday morning turned up empty for the missing man, and he was not detected by surveillance systems, including US Customs and Border Patrol, during the debarkation process.
The search team surveyed the waters via boats and helicopter for more than 80 hours combined but saw no sign of him. On Sept. 7, the search for McGrath was suspended.
A family’s worry
McGrath’s ex-wife, Addison Thomas, and their two children, ages 2 and 3, live in Clarksville.
“We still have that strong bond,” Thomas told Clarksville Now. “Regardless of if we are divorced or not, together or not, we still would talk a lot. My daughter, she’s older, so she understands a little more. She knows when dad isn’t answering his phone.”
McGrath and Thomas first met in 2019, while he was still in the Army and stationed at Fort Campbell.
“Seeing my daughter when he doesn’t answer the phone just breaks my heart,” Thomas said. “She’s very close to her father.”
Thomas said that McGrath going missing took a big toll on her in the beginning, and it continues to take a toll on her now, but she’s able to manage it more.
“Not knowing where he is, having to wake up wondering, is he alive, is he OK, what’s his condition type of things. That worries me every day that I wake up and we have no answers,” she said.
“I was stuck in my room for days, everything literally stopped. He planned on coming here to visit the kids again before the end of the year.”
At this point, McGrath remains missing. His family in Clarksville and in Florida continue to wait for answers.
Clarksville Now has reached out to Carnival and Miami-Dade Police Department for updates.