Saoirse Kennedy Hill Cause Of Death: RFK's Granddaughter Died Of Suspected Overdose

Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, was found dead at her family's Massachusetts compound Thursday. The 22-year-old died of a suspected overdose.

“Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise, and love,” the family said in a statement. “She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel.”

Ethel Kennedy, 91, also said of her grandaughter’s unexpected death: “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.”

Saoirse, who was the only daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill, 62, and Paul Hill, 65, was a student at Boston College, according to the New York Times.

On Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Tara Miltimore of the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office confirmed that the incident was under investigation by Barnstable Police and State Police detectives.

In a 2016 opinion piece for the Deerfield Scroll, the student newspaper for the Deerfield Academy boarding school, Saoirse wrote about depression.

"My depression took root in the beginning of my middle school years and will be with me for the rest of my life," she wrote. "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."