Hyannis Port, MASS. — Authorities have determined that Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the 22-year-old granddaughter of assassinated presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, died of a drug overdose.
A toxicology test found methadone, fluoxetine, norfluoxetine, diazepam, nordiazepam and alcohol in her system, according to the death certificate.
Fluoxetine is an antidepressant, and diazepam is used to treat anxiety and alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Hill, who openly wrote about her depression, died at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on Aug. 1.
Hill was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's fifth child, Courtney Kennedy, and Paul Michael Hill, who was one of four falsely convicted in the 1974 Irish Republican Army bombings of two pubs.
The Kennedy family released a statement following reports of a death at the family's compound in Hyannis Port. The statement was issued by Brian Wright O'Connor, a spokesman for former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II.
"Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise and love. She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel, who said, 'The world is a little less beautiful today.' She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit. Saoirse was passionately moved by the causes of human rights and women's empowerment and found great joy in volunteer work, working alongside indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico. We will love her and miss her forever."
The statement says Saoirse Hill was passionate about human rights and women's empowerment and that she worked with indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico.
Hill attended Boston College, where she was a member of the class of 2020.
In 2016, she openly wrote about mental illness and a previous suicide attempt while a student at Deerfield Academy. In the article, she also wrote that she had survived a sexual assault "after someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me."
The home, which is assessed at $2.5 million, has been owned by several Kennedy family members over the years, including the late Edward M. Kennedy and the late Robert F. Kennedy, online assessor's records show.
In the 1960s, the compound served as the summer White House for President John F. Kennedy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Cox Media Group
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