Late this month, in Texas, shipping CEO Angela Chao—who was also Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law—died after crashing her Tesla into a pond. Her death was declared an “unfortunate accident” by the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office. Her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit in Texas.
On her 4,500-acre property west of Austin in Johnson City, Chao, 50, passed away after enjoying supper with seven close friends. She was seen on security cameras when her Tesla Model X hit a wall and careened. Guests of Chao, including Amber Keinan, dialed 911 and said Chao had called to say she was in her car and it was filling up with water and was going to die.
They were on the phone for nearly ten minutes as the car slowly descended under the water.
At about 1:40 in the morning, an emergency medical services worker tried to revive Chao, but she was declared dead at the site. Chao presided over the Foremost Foundation, a nonprofit established by her father, and over the dry bulk shipping firm Foremost Group in New York. James Chao and Ruth Mulan Chu Chao had six children, the youngest of whom was her.
After watching rapper Pitbull perform, Chao invited seven of her closest female friends to her guest house. All of the ladies had gone to Harvard Business School with Chao, and the majority were New Yorkers. Two 500-pound limestone slabs were separated when Chao’s Tesla crashed into a retaining wall beside the pond. She called her pals Victoria Garcia and Amber Landeau-Kienan to let them know she was in the pond. They approached the vehicle with a kayak, and Victoria ascended onto its roof to find Chao. Heela Yang Tsuzuki, a third companion, dialed emergency services.
At 1:40 a.m. on February 11, rescue personnel arrived at the scene and declared Chao deceased. After consulting with the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Rangers and the FBI determined that the occurrence was a tragic accident. Chao was a member of the boards of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors, and the American Bureau of Shipping Council.
