Kennedy Granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy Hill Found Dead At Family Compound

HYANNIS PORT (AP/CBS) — Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, has died at 22 after suffering an apparent overdose.

The Kennedy family released a statement on Thursday night, 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 congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II.

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.

"Her life was filled with hope, promise and love," the statement said. "She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit."

The statement quoted her 91-year-old grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, as saying "the world is a little less beautiful today."

According to the Cape and Island's District Attorney's Office, Barnstable Police responded to a home on Marchant Ave for a "reported unattended death."

The death is under investigation by the Barnstable Police and State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office.

"An autopsy performed today has revealed no trauma inconsistent with lifesaving measures," the DA's office said Friday. "The cause and manner of death are pending the toxicology report."

Saoirse Kennedy Hill attended Deerfield Academy and Boston College.

Hill was the daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy's fifth child, Courtney, and Paul Michael Hill, who was one of four falsely convicted in the 1974 Irish Republican Army bombings of two pubs.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)