WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A sobbing and depressed David Kennedy was drinking vodka, inhaling cocaine and popping pills during a family get-together at Easter, which ended in his death from a drug overdose, according to documents released Friday.
Kennedy, 28, son of assassinated Sen. Robert Kennedy, was found dead in his Palm Beach hotel room April 25. A medical examiner ruled he died from a combination overdose of cocaine, Demerol and a sedative.
After a two-week legal battle, about 500 pages of documents compiled in an investigation by police and the state attorney's office were released to the news media late Friday by the courts.
State Attorney David Bludworth fought against release of the documents, arguing publication would damage his case against David Dorr and Peter Marchant, bellhops at the Brazilian Court Hotel where Kennedy died. They have been charged with supplying Kennedy with cocaine.
Douglas Kennedy told Bludworth he saw his older brother taking what he thought were sleeping pills in his hotel room Saturday night, April 19.
And on April 22, Douglas said, 'He was drinking most of the day. But in the morning, I suspected him (to be) on cocaine. He was jumpy, paranoid and ... he was just licking his lips.'
Douglas Kennedy's classmate at Georgetown Preparatory School, Derrick Evans, linked Dorr and Marchant to the case.
Marion Niemann, 41, a German-born model, told police in a lengthy statement the day Kennedy's body was found that he was deeply depressed and sobbing during a date she had with him two days before.
Speaking in broken English, Niemann told police she met Kennedy Easter Sunday and went to dinner with him at a restaurant the following evening, April 23. She said Kennedy 'just picked at his food ... (and) drank approximately seven vodkas.'
After leaving the restaurant, she told police she accompanied Kennedy back to his hotel room.
'They were both sitting on the bed and he was telling her about how unhappy he was -- crying,' officer Michael Gabrin reported. He then quoted Niemann as saying, 'He (Kennedy) speak very, very clear and he was little bit crying, and I starting to cry and I say, 'now I remember, you know, so many things now when I think about this.' And when I say to him, 'you take some drugs today?' and he say, 'Yes, I take some cocaine today.''
During her stay of about two hours in the hotel room, Niemann said Kennedy went out and came back carrying a plastic bag full of 'something white -- white like flour.' She said he immediately laid out some of the powder, rolled up a $20 bill and inhaled the powder.
'I think maybe it was cocaine,' she said.
The policeman added, 'Niemann questioned Kennedy whether he should be doing that, the way he felt. Kennedy stated that it was all right because he could handle it.
'Nieman then asked Kennedy where he got it and he said from the bellboy. Kennedy then took some pills and told Niemann he needed them for sleeping.'
Police questioned Niemann about whether she had sex with Kennedy.
She denied that she had, but she said she laid down on the bed with him and kissed him at his request.
'I kiss more than friendly kiss,' she said. 'Yes, I feel so, you know. Sometimes you see a dog on the street and you want to take him home or something, you know. I feel like, I have not a mother, not at all. I feel he needs help, something.'
Niemann left Kennedy at 11:30 p.m. and went home.
She told police she tried to call Kennedy several times into the next day and the phone was busy.
The documents, nearly five inches thick, were not all the records collected by police in their investigation. Missing were the medical records of Rose Kennedy, ailing 94-year-old matriarch of the Kennedy family, and reports on the questioning of Caroline Kennedy, President Kennedy's daughter, and Sidney Lawford, David Kennedy's cousin.
Investigators indicated they believe David Kennedy may have stolen Rose Kennedy's pills when he visited his ailing grandmother. But a 52-page deposition by Evans, who accompanied Douglas and David Kennedy to visit Rose Kennedy at her oceanside villa April 23, shed little light on the pill question.
Harriet Couch, a member of a New York opera company performing in Palm Beach, told police she saw Kennedy snort cocaine with Peter Marchant. Couch told police she met Kennedy two days before his death at the Kenya Club, a Palm Beach bar.
Evans said Kennedy had spoken to him about using heroin and cocaine on three successive days, starting April 20.
Evans said he overheard a conversation at the hotel between David Kennedy and Dorr on Easter night.
'What was the conversation about?' asked Bludworth.
'About cocaine,' Evans replied. '... David Kennedy asked David Dorr if he could get him some more stuff. ... 'Yes, some more. Whether he said 'stuff' or 'cocaine,' I don't really recall.'
Bludworth: 'You are sure he said some more?'
'Yes, he said 'more,' definitely,' Evans replied.
The documents, nearly five inches thick, were not all the records collected by police in their investigation. Missing were the medical records of Rose Kennedy, ailing 94-year-old matriarch of the Kennedy family, and reports on the questioning of Caroline Kennedy, President Kennedy's daughter, and Sidney Lawford, David Kennedy's cousin.
Investigators indicated they believe David Kennedy may have stolen Rose Kennedy's pills when he visited his ailing grandmother. But a 52-page deposition by Evans, who accompanied Douglas and David Kennedy to visit Rose Kennedy at her oceanside villa April 23, shed little light on pill question.
Evans, however, brought the names of Dorr and Marchant into the case.
And Harriet Couch, a member of a New York opera company performing in Palm Beach, told police she saw Kennedy snort cocaine with Peter Marchant. Couch told police she met Kennedy two days before his death at the Kenya Club, a Palm Beach bar.
Couch said they were in Marchant's car outside the bar. Kennedy allegedly complained to Marchant that the cocaine looked bad. She said Merchant blamed the humidity. Kennedy became upset and went back into the bar, and eventually to his hotel room, she said.
Evans said Kennedy had spoken to him about using heroin and cocaine on three successive days, starting April 20.
Evans said he overheard a conversation at the hotel between David Kennedy and Dorr on Easter night.
'What was the conversation about?' asked Bludworth.
'About cocaine,' Evans replied. '... David Kennedy asked David Dorr if he could get him some more stuff. ... 'Yes, some more. Whether he said 'stuff' or 'cocaine,' I don't really recall.'
Bludworth: 'You are sure he said some more?'
'Yes, he said 'more,' definitely,' Evans replied.
Evans said Dorr took David and him to the hotel bell station and 'he introduced us to a guy named Pete, who was a bellhop at the Brazilian Court who, he said, was the one who had gotten him the cocaine that he had given him earlier.'
Evans said he didn't hear all the conversation between David and Pete, but gathered that Pete had to get the cocaine from someone else later.
Evans said later that night he tried to phone back to the hotel to 'tell Pete to not discuss or go through with anything that he and David were possibly ... .'
'Why,' asked Bludworth.
'David had a problem and for most people that using drugs like that would be maybe for one night. But for David, it could be, it could ruin six months of his life.'
Evans said he was unable to reach Marchant to tell him not to sell more cocaine to Kennedy.
