Kennedy Granddaughter Dies: 'Our Hearts Are Shattered'

HYANNIS, MA — Saoirse Kennedy Hill, a granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, died Thursday of an apparent drug overdose at the family's Hyannis Port compound. Hill, 22, a student at Boston College, was the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill, one of RFK's four daughters.

Toxicology tests were still pending Friday night, according to The Associated Press, which said it obtained audio of a Barnstable police dispatch call that indicted officers responded to a report of a drug overdose at the Kennedy compound. Hill was taken to Cape Cod Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Among those present at the compound, which has been the family's prime retreat for decades, was RFK's widow, Ethel, now 91.

A statement issued by the Kennedy family said:

"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."

Hill was a communication major at the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences at Boston College. She was set to graduate next year. Vice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore said Hill had many friends and was active with the College Democrats.

"Saoirse was a gifted student who aspired to work in the communications field and contribute to the national dialogue through TV, radio, music, and film," Moore said in a statement.

Hill wrote about her struggles with depression while a student at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. In a column for the student newspaper, she wrote, "My depression took root in the beginning of my middle school years and will be with me for the rest of my life. Although I was mostly a happy child, I suffered bouts of deep sadness that felt like a heavy boulder on my chest. These bouts would come and go, but they did not outwardly affect me until I was a new sophomore at Deerfield."

Hill went on to write that "someone I knew and loved broke serious sexual boundaries with me."

She continued, "I did the worst thing a victim can do, and I pretended it hadn’t happened."

Hill said she then attempted to take her own life.

The Kennedy family has repeatedly been troubled with untimely deaths. Hill's grandfather, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968, five years after the assassination of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. Hill's uncle, David, also died of a drug overdose, and another uncle, Michael, died in a skiing accident.