Saoirse
Kennedy Hill, the granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, died
after being found unresponsive Thursday afternoon at the Kennedy
Compound, officials said.
An
autopsy performed Friday revealed "no trauma inconsistent with
lifesaving measures" on Hill's body, the Cape and Islands District
Attorney Michael O'Keefe said in a statement. The cause and manner of
death are pending the toxicology report, O'Keefe said.
PHOTO: Saoirse Kennedy Hill is seen here in an undated photo posted on Facebook. (Saoirse Kennedy Hill/Facebook)
The Kennedy family confirmed the death in a statement.
"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,'" the Kennedy family said in the statement.
"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 continued.
Hill, 22, was the daughter of Paul Hill and Courtney Kennedy Hill, the fifth of 11 children of Robert and Ethel Kennedy.
Further details about the death are unknown at this time.
Barnstable
police were called to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port,
Massachusetts, on Thursday around 3 p.m. for a report of an "unattended
death," O'Keefe said.
"The
matter remains under investigation by Barnstable Police and State
Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office," the DA's
statement read.
Hill was public about her struggles with depression. In 2016, while still a high school senior at Deerfield Academy, she wrote an op-ed
for the school's newspaper mentioning that she left school during her
junior year for "treatment for my depression and returned to the valley
for my senior year."
PHOTO:
A Barnstable Police cruiser sits at the top of Marchant Avenue as
police investigate the death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the granddaughter
of the late Robert F. Kennedy, at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port,
Mass., Aug. 1, 2019. (Faith Ninivaggi/Reuters)
"I
didn’t care that students thought that I had left because of an eating
disorder, or that I had been bullied, but it concerned me that my
teachers and advisors didn’t know what I had been going through," Hill
wrote. "Even though it was helpful for me to discuss my struggles with
all of those important people in my life, it was still uncomfortable,
and it was hard for me to take the initiative."
Hill
went to Boston College, where she was a member of the College
Democrats. She was part of the class of 2020 and was studying
communication at the university's Morrissey College of Arts and
Sciences, Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said in a statement.
Dunn
described Hill as a "gifted student" with many friends on campus, while
faculty who taught her described her as "thoughtful and compassionate,
and possessing a deep empathy for others."
"We extend our deepest condolences to her family in the wake of this tragic loss," Dunn said.
PHOTO:
People walk down the dock at the Hyannis Port Yacht Club by the Kennedy
Compound where police are investigating the death of Saoirse Kennedy
Hill, the granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, in Hyannis Port,
Mass., Aug. 1, 2019. (Faith Ninivaggi/Reuters)
Hill's grandmother, Ethel, who is 91, was married to Bobby Kennedy
from 1950 until he was murdered in June 1968 while running for
president. He served as attorney general under his brother, John F.
Kennedy, and was a senator from New York when he was assassinated.
The
Kennedy compound consists of 6 acres of land along the Nantucket Sound
and has been in the family for decades, according to the National Park
Service. Both Robert F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy had homes there.
PHOTO: An aerial view of the Kennedy Compound, July 25, 2008, in Hyannisport, Mass. (Tim Gray/Getty Images)
No comments:
Post a Comment