What did the Westchester County medical examiner's full autopsy report on Mary Richardson Kennedy include?
Executive summary
The Westchester County medical examiner’s report found Mary Richardson Kennedy died from asphyxiation by hanging and documented toxicology showing three antidepressant drugs — trazodone, venlafaxine and desmethylvenlafaxine — with no alcohol detected, and included scene observations that prompted speculation she may have tried to stop the act [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]. Reporting indicates the death occurred in a barn on the family’s Bedford estate and that the medical examiner’s office conducted the autopsy and released the findings to police and the press [4] [1].
1. The official cause and immediate findings
The medical examiner’s office concluded that Mary Richardson Kennedy died of asphyxiation due to hanging, a determination relayed publicly by county officials and widely reported in contemporaneous outlets [1] [8] [9]. The scene was described as a barn behind the Bedford home, where the body was discovered on May 16, and the autopsy and toxicology were handled by the Westchester County Medical Examiner’s office [4] [6].
2. Toxicology: which substances the report recorded
Toxicology in the released report showed three antidepressants in Ms. Kennedy’s system — trazodone, venlafaxine and desmethylvenlafaxine — and multiple outlets summarized those laboratory findings when the medical examiner’s report was made public [2] [5] [3] [4]. Several reports emphasized that, despite a public history of alcohol problems, the toxicology did not detect alcohol at the time of death [4] [3].
3. Scene detail that fueled debate: fingers, rope and possible hesitation
Multiple press outlets highlighted an observation from the autopsy and scene notes that Ms. Kennedy’s fingers were found between her neck and the noose, with injuries and discoloration consistent with the rope’s pressure, a detail that experts and commentators interpreted as possible evidence she tried to pull at or duck under the rope in her final moments [7] [10] [11] [12]. That physical detail prompted forensic observers quoted in the press to say the positioning was unusual and could indicate a last‑minute change of mind or an attempt to stop the hanging, though such interpretations were presented as opinion based on the report [7] [10].
4. How reporters and experts framed the medical examiner’s language
News organizations varied in framing: some reports presented the ME’s finding as a definitive suicide by hanging, while others noted the medical examiner’s cause-of-death language and the autopsy’s factual observations without immediately characterizing intent, reflecting early caution in official communications [1] [8] [4]. Independent experts — including those quoted by New York Daily News and others who read the autopsy — said the case “looks like a suicidal hanging” but stopped short of stating the autopsy alone proved intent, demonstrating a distinction between cause (asphyxiation by hanging) and manner (suicide) in coverage [7] [13].
5. What the public record released does not show
The publicly reported material summarizes cause of death, toxicology results, scene observations and some expert commentary, but the exact full text of the complete autopsy document and every investigative note were not published in the sources reviewed here; therefore, it cannot be stated from these sources what every line of the examiner’s full file contained or any additional forensic tests beyond those reported [2] [4] [6]. Reporting consistently cites the same core findings — hanging, the three antidepressants, no alcohol and the finger/noose detail — and where interpretation differs, outlets made those differences explicit [3] [7] [10].