Tampering in Kennedy Drug Case Suspected
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A top investigator in the drug overdose death of David Kennedy said police have investigated the possibility of evidence-tampering since the day he died at a posh Palm Beach hotel.
Palm Beach Police Chief Joseph Terlizzese said in a sworn statement that investigators believe someone may have removed a syringe, cocaine and the prescription drug Demerol from the room before police arrived.
Kennedy, the 28-year-old son of slain Sen. Robert Kennedy, was found dead in his room at the Brazilian Court Hotel on April 25. An autopsy revealed that he died of an overdose of cocaine and two prescription drugs.
Terlizzese said police suspected that someone flushed part of the drugs down the toilet, and they dusted the hotel room door and doorknob for fingerprints.
He said the prints found were not those of Kennedy’s cousins, Caroline Kennedy and Sidney Lawford, but he did not say whose they were.
Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, has denied in an affidavit that she entered the room after her cousin’s death, although she acknowledged having been at the hotel.
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