How did rfk Jr wife die

1. What the official reports say: cause and manner of death

Medical officials concluded that Mary Richardson Kennedy died of asphyxiation due to hanging and ruled the death a suicide, a determination carried in contemporaneous reporting and in the county medical examiner’s autopsy summary ^{[2] [4]}; mainstream outlets including Reuters, BBC and ABC reported the asphyxiation-by-hanging cause as the official finding ^{[2] [3] [4]}.

2. Toxicology and autopsy details reported

The autopsy disclosed the presence of multiple antidepressant medications in her bloodstream and, according to the medical examiner cited by Reuters, no alcohol was detected, a point emphasized in post-mortem toxicology reporting ^[2]; several news organizations repeated those toxicology details when summarizing the examiner’s findings ^{[2] [5]}.

3. Where and how she was found; immediate family statements

Initial reports said Richardson was discovered at the family estate in Bedford — with early coverage specifying she was found in a barn on the property — and police characterized the scene as an unattended death while the medical examiner later provided cause and manner ^{[3] [6]}; the family issued a statement mourning her loss and describing her as a “radiant and creative spirit,” while some family representatives later pushed back against what they called inaccuracies in press accounts ^{[3] [7]}.

4. Context: marriage, legal troubles and mental-health concerns before her death

Reporting before and after her death documented a troubled period in Richardson’s life — publicized separation and divorce proceedings from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., prior police visits for domestic disturbances, and struggles with drug- and alcohol-related incidents — details that media noted in situating the death amid a longer pattern of difficulty ^{[8] [9]}; friends and public records were cited in contemporaneous coverage describing episodes in which Kennedy family members and police had expressed concern about her wellbeing ^{[9] [4]}.

5. Alternative narratives and unresolved questions in later accounts

While the official forensic finding is clear, subsequent pieces and a 2024 excerpt from Maureen Callahan’s book revisited the dynamics around Richardson’s last days, reporting disputed recollections, legal friction between families, and renewed scrutiny over how the circumstances were handled — coverage that raises questions about family conflict and public narrative but does not contradict the medical examiner’s ruling ^{[10] [11]}; some relatives and friends expressed confusion and grief about how her life unraveled, and others faulted press portrayals, illustrating competing perspectives in the public record ^{[8] [7]}.

6. What can and cannot be concluded from the reporting

Contemporary and later reporting consistently records that Mary Richardson Kennedy died by hanging and that antidepressants were present in her system while alcohol was not detected — those are the facts established in the medical examiner’s report and widely reported by Reuters, BBC, ABC and others ^{[2] [3] [4]}; reporting also documents a fraught personal history and contested family narratives, but public sources cited here do not provide evidence overturning the official cause-and-manner determination, nor do they establish motivations beyond what the medical examiner and family statements supply ^{[2] [7]}.