Ethel Kennedy faced unimaginable heartbreak throughout her life. Among the many tragedies she endured was the sudden loss of two of her sons. Take a closer look at the heartbreaking deaths of David and Michael Kennedy.
Ethel Kennedy, the wife of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was a prominent figure in American history, known for her unwavering commitment to social justice and her strength in the face of family tragedies.
Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy boarding a plane for San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March 1966. | Source: Getty Images
Born into a political dynasty, she married into one of the most iconic American families. She and Robert raised 11 children, navigating both the highs of public service and the lows of personal loss.
Despite her remarkable resilience, Ethel was no stranger to heartache, having tragically lost two of her sons — David and Michael Kennedy — in sudden and devastating circumstances.
Ethel Kennedy at the Restore Ball in New York City on September 28, 1970. | Source: Getty Images
David, the fourth of Ethel’s children, led a life deeply affected by trauma. At just 13 years old, he witnessed the assassination of his father on live television, an event that haunted him for the rest of his life.
Despite his promising beginnings, the emotional toll of his father’s death led David down a path of addiction. On April 25, 1984, he was found dead in his hotel room in Palm Beach, Florida, at 28.
David and Chris Kennedy watching a tennis match with their cousin, Ted Kennedy Jr., on August 25, 1974. | Source: Getty Images
He had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for many years, and while his cause of death wasn’t immediately clear, investigators eventually ruled out suicide.
There were ”no signs of foul play,” said Sergeant Henry L. Marchman, spokesman for the Police Department of Palm Beach. The results of a preliminary autopsy tonight were being studied, as officials suspected it was an accidental overdose.
David Kennedy at the Democratic National Convention on July 15, 1976, in New York. | Source: Getty Images
David, who resided in Boston, traveled to Palm Beach to visit his grandmother, Rose Kennedy, who was in poor health. His body was discovered by a hotel secretary, Elizabeth Barnett, around 11:30 a.m. after a family member called to check if he had left for his flight.
When there was no response from his room phone, the hotel staff were instructed to investigate, according to hotel spokesman Gerald H. Beebe Jr.
David Kennedy in New York in 1984. | Source: Getty Images
The spokesman noted that hotel staff had seen David the previous Tuesday, describing him as being in good spirits. A desk clerk even recalled him waving as he passed the front desk.
David’s uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy, reflected on his nephew’s troubled life, stating, “We all pray that David has finally found the peace that he did not find in life.” The Kennedy family were no strangers to tragedy and mourned deeply, but the heartbreak did not end there.
Members of the Kennedy family escorted by Ethel Kennedy carrying the casket of David Kennedy from the hearse to the Kennedy House on May 4, 1984. | Source: Getty Images
Thirteen years later, in 1997, another devastating blow struck Ethel when her son Michael died in a skiing accident. Known for his adventurous spirit, Michael was skiing in Aspen, Colorado, when he collided with a tree, resulting in his immediate death at 39.
Michael Kennedy and Vicky Gifford at Attorney Roy Cohn’s birthday party in New York City on February 22, 1981. | Source: Getty Images
Michael had faced controversy in the years leading up to his death due to an alleged affair with the family’s babysitter. The scandal even affected his brother Joseph P. Kennedy II’s political aspirations.
The mom who stabbed her baby to death is found dead in prison
Six years into her 17-year-long sentence for stabbing her baby with a pair of scissors, Rachel Tunstill dies in prison.
Back in 2017, she stabbed her baby girl, Mia Kelly, more than 15 times in the bathroom of their Burnley home and threw her lifeless body in a bin.
Tunstill was initially convicted of murder and handed a life sentence with minimum term of 20 years, but a re-trial proved the jury in the case should have been offered a verdict of infanticide to consider. During the re-trial she was once again convicted of murder and put behind bars for a minimum of 17 years.
“HMP Styal prisoner Rachel Tunstill died in custody on 1 August 2023. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate,” a spokesperson from the Prison Service confirmed the news of her passing.
At the time she gave birth, her boyfriend was playing video games in the next room. She then told him she had a miscarriage and asked for the scissors after which she remorselessly stabbed the baby to death.
At the time of sentencing, the judge, Mr Justice King, said: “This must have been a sustained and frenzied attack on a victim who because of her age was particularly vulnerable. Her duty to her newborn baby was to cradle and comfort her – not to stab her to death.
“There was here in my judgement concealment of the body, albeit short-lived and in addition there was undoubtedly the indignity which was wrought upon the body by disposing of it in the way she did.”
Credit: Liverpool Echo
Tunstill was a university master’s graduate in forensic psychology.
“She showed no emotion or remorse for stabbing her baby to death,” said Mr Justice King.
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