Estranged Kennedy wife died of asphyxiation due to hanging, autopsy reveals

Mary Richardson Kennedy, 52, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was found dead at the couple's home in Bedford, N.Y. No cause of death was given, but she reportedly took her own life by hanging. NBC's Jeff Rossen reports.

Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., died of asphyxiation due to hanging, a medical examiner said after performing an autopsy Thursday.

The 52-year-old was found dead in her home in Westchester County, N.Y., on Wednesday. Two people with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times her body was found hanging in a barn behind her Bedford, N.Y., house, and that she had left a note.

Authorities who responded to the scene cut her down and tried unsuccessfully to revive her, said The Times.

A key excerpt from the article:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent environmental lawyer, has been touched by tragedy before. When he was 9, his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Five years later, his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was also assassinated. Years later, his brother David would die of a drug overdose; another brother, Michael, would be killed in a ski accident. His cousin, John F. Kennedy, Jr., died in a plane crash in 1999, and three years ago, his uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, died from cancer.