According to her friends, Beverly had dropped out of sight for a while. She was last seen on Monday night, April 11, 1960. Neighbors reported her radio blaring all day Tuesday and lights under her door. That night, police were summoned to the University Residence Club, 45 West Eleventh Street in NYC (where she had lived since September, 1959), and with the help of  apartment manager, Paula Troike, entered to find her lying on her bed in a pink nightgown, surrounded by pills. She was 28 years old.

 

In her last hours, Kenney wrote each of her parents long, heartbreaking letters before consuming a lethal overdose of alcohol and Seconal. However, the motives for her suicide remain a mystery (the letters were destroyed and their contents never released).. Her father, who had had dinner with her on Monday night, said, "...everything seemed fine."

 

In a 1992 GQ magazine profile by Jonathan Schwartz , it is suggested that she was saddened by the end of her romance with Beat Generation guru Milton Klonsky. Later efforts by journalist Bill Reed cast doubt on this theory. In a column at the time (included here), columnist Dorothy Killgalen suggested there may be a connection between Beverly's death and the recent death of singer Nick De Francis, a close friend and fellow singer who performed at the famed Jilly's nightclub and who had committed suicide shortly before Beverly.

 

The sad details of her death are included in these news items from the 1950s. Click on any image then scroll.