Robert F. Kennedy Granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy Hill Died Of Drug Overdose

UPDATE: Saoirse Kenney Hill, granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, died in August of an accidental overdose of drugs. A coroner’s report said the 22-year-old had methadone, alcohol and a handful of prescription drugs in her system when she died. The death from acute methadone and ethanol toxicity in combination with prescription drugs was ruled accidental, according to Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe confirmed Friday.

EARLIER: The tragedy of the Kennedy family continued today, as the 22-year-old granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy died of what news reports said was a drug overdose at the family’s Hyannis Port, Massachusetts compound.

Saoirse Kennedy Hill was the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill, the fifth of 11 children born to RFK and wife Ethel Kennedy. She would have been a senior next year at Boston College.

“Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse,” said a Kennedy family statement,. “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.”

The statement quoted Ethel Kennedy as saying: “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 was issued by Brian Wright O’Connor, a spokesman for Saoirse Hill’s uncle, former Massachusetts congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II.

Reports indicate paramedics were called in to the compound at 2:30 PM ET. Hill was taken to the hospital. No information was available on her condition when the paramedics arrived.

Boston 25 News, citing a law enforcement source, reported that Hill died from a suspected drug overdose.