David Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, was found dead face down on the floor between two beds in a room at the Brazilian Court Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 25, 1984. Contemporaneous wire reports listed him as 28 years old, though a recent report from goSkagit identified him as 27. Medical examiners could not immediately say whether he had died of natural causes or a drug overdose, and police said at the time that no drug paraphernalia was found in the room.
The uncertainty surrounding Kennedy’s death was reported in real time by upi.com, which noted that a Palm Beach County medical examiner said no anatomic cause of death had been found to explain his demise, and that laboratory testing was ordered to determine whether drugs played a role. That initial ambiguity would not last. As later reported by the latimes.com, toxicology testing eventually attributed his death to a mixture of three drugs — cocaine, Demerol and Mellaril.
Investigators also found physical evidence in the room itself. According to sun-sentinel.com, police discovered a packet of cocaine in Kennedy’s wallet, along with a vial of Mellaril found on the dresser. The image accompanying the recent report from goSkagit shows a West Palm Beach police car parked in front of the Brazilian Court Hotel on the day the body was discovered.
Suspicion That Drugs Were Removed From the Room
Nearly a year after Kennedy’s death, investigators revealed evidence suggesting that drugs may have been taken from the hotel room before his body was found. Per the same upi.com archive, traces of cocaine and the painkiller Demerol were present in two vials of water taken from the toilet in the room — a detail that fed police suspicion that drugs were removed from the scene before anyone discovered Kennedy’s body…