Autopsy Suggests Mary Richardson Kennedy May Have Tried To Stop Suicide
July 11 2012, Published 12:00 p.m. ET
Mary Richardson Kennedy might have had a change of heart about committing suicide, as her fingers were between her neck and the noose she hanged herself with, according to her autopsy report.
The report sheds new details on the embattled mother-of-four's tragic May 16 death -- when her body was found by a worker in a barn at her Bedford, New York home -- saying that physical evidence indicates a possible last-minute attempt in vain to break free of her own strangulation.
Westchester County Medical Examiner Dr. Kunjlata Ashar said in the report the troubled 52-year-old architect had bruised fingers and blue fingernails, indicating a possible struggle to stop the fatal process.
The doctor told the NY Daily News via e-mail: "The fingers from both of Mary's hands were between the rope and the neck. The fingernails were cyanotic blue because of compression of the fingers, as they were between the rope and the neck.
It's also possible, Dr. Ashar wrote, "the fingers caught in the noose may suggest that she was trying to place the rope around her neck."
The late woman's toxicology report, the doctor said, indicated no alcohol in her system.
In recent years, Mary's issues with drugs and alcohol became public after a pair of arrests: for driving while intoxicated in May 2010, three days after Robert filed for divorce; and later that year for driving under the influence of drugs, though that charge would be dismissed. Mary was also upset Robert was involved with actress Cheryl Hines.
Mary married Robert, the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, in 1994 on a boat coasting in the Hudson River Valley.
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