ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.’s shocking decision to dig up his late wife MARY’s grave – seven weeks after she committed suicide – and move her remains away from his family plot has triggered an explosive feud in America’s notorious political dynasty.
The illegal move – which sources say did not have proper government authorization – blindsided Mary’s still-grieving family while touching off yet another scandal for the long-troubled Kennedy clan.
“Bobby has really split the family over this,” a close source told The ENQUIRER.
The callous move comes at a particularly sensitive time for Mary’s loved ones. Recently revealed details of her autopsy report suggest that she may have changed her mind about hanging herself, jamming her fingers between her neck and the rope before dying.
“Now this – it’s despicable, ghoulish grave robbing!” a family insider fumed about the reburial. “Bobby is a monster.
“What kind of man would dig up his late wife and move her remains a few weeks after she died? It gives me chills to think about it!”
Mary, 52, and the son of the late Senator Robert Kennedy were in the final stages of an ugly divorce on May 16 when she killed herself in a barn behind her home in Bedford, N.Y. It was a horrifying end to their 18-year marriage and devastated their four children, ages 11 to 18.
“Mary felt totally abandoned by Bobby,” revealed the insider, adding that the split was made even more painful when RFK Jr. started a red-hot affair with gorgeous TV star Cheryl Hines.
“Poor Mary loved Bobby with all her heart, but she thought the only way to end her pain was at the end of a rope,” continued the insider.
While Mary’s family wanted her buried closer to them in New York state, Bobby insisted on laying her to rest at Saint Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville, Mass., in a gravesite next to his aunt and uncle Eunice and Sargent Shriver.
But just seven weeks later, he coldheartedly decided to move her body 700 feet away “and didn’t even have the decency to tell her grieving family,” charged the source.
Mary’s coffin was unceremoniously dug up and reburied in a lonely plot on the top of a hill beside a sickly oak tree. Bobby didn’t even bother to get the required permit for the move from the clerk’s office in the nearby Town of Barnstable, say officials there.
“There’s not even a tombstone,” added the source. “It’s like she was just plopped down there!”
A small statue of the Virgin Mary along with several small American flags are all that mark Mary’s final resting place.
Gravedigger Frank Maki says Bobby claimed the move was necessary because he’s planning on buying 50 plots in a newer area of the cemetery, where there is room for additional family members.
“He didn’t realize how crowded the area near the Shrivers was until after the funeral,” said Maki.
But the insider insists Bobby’s actions are nothing more than a final slap in the face to his dead wife.
“After poor Mary was buried, Bobby decided he didn’t like her so close to his beloved Shriver relatives,” the insider explained. “So with typical Kennedy arrogance, he had her dug up and buried in Siberia!
“Bobby thought Mary was trash – not good enough to rest eternally next to his Aunt Eunice and Uncle Sargent.”
To make matters worse, the squeaky-voiced environmental activist has continued his romance with 46-year-old “Suburgatory” star Hines without missing a beat, recently taking her to the July 7 wedding of his nephew Matthew Kennedy in Hyannis Port, Mass. – just three miles away from Mary’s grave.
He’s not only disgusted Mary’s grieving family but also his own mother, Ethel, confide insiders.
“Ethel is fuming,” said the source. “She thinks it was the ultimate show of bad taste to see the two of them cozying up together so soon after Mary’s death.
“The man should be ashamed of himself.”
And the political clan’s image took another hard hit when Bobby’s sister, Kerry, 52, was arrested on July 13 and charged with driving while impaired by drugs after a hit-and-run car accident in New York. As The ENQUIRER reported Kerry claims to have suffered a seizure while behind the wheel.
“The Kennedys have another new huge PR problem on their hands,” the source added. “Scandals just seem to follow the family.”
