Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter, Saoirse Hill, dies at 22

Saoirse Kennedy-Hill was found dead at the home. Photo / via Facebook

Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, has died, the family announced Thursday night.

The Kennedy family's statement followed reports of a death at the storied Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. The statement was issued by Brian Wright O'Connor, a spokesman for Saoirse Hill's uncle, former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II.

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.

Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy-Hill places a white rose at the Eternal Flame, President John F. Kennedy's gravesite in 2000. Photo / AP

"She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit," the statement said, adding that she was passionate about human rights and women's empowerment and worked with indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico.

"Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse," the family said.

"Her life was filled with hope, promise and love. She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel."

She attended Boston College, where she was a member of the class of 2020, the university confirmed to The Boston Globe.

The family statement did not include a cause of death, but international media outlets have reported it as a possible drug overdose.

The Cape & Islands district attorney's office said Barnstable police responded to a home "for a reported unattended death" Thursday afternoon, according to a statement cited by news outlets. Barnstable police and Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the district attorney's office are investigating.

Saoirse Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy, Jr. greeting people waiting in the 3 plus hour line to pay respects to Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 2009. Photo / Getty Images

This 2009 file photo shows the main home in the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. Photo / AP

"The world is a little less beautiful today," Hill's 91-year-old grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Boston 25 News, citing a law enforcement source, reported that Hill died from a suspected drug overdose.

"Earlier this afternoon Barnstable Police responded to a residence on Marchant Ave in Hyannis Port for a reported unattended death," Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Tara Miltimore said in a statement.

"The matter remains under investigation by Barnstable Police and State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office."

- AP