|
|
|
Martha’s mother, Dorothy Moxley, never has given up her quiet but determined fight for justice.
“She wanted to be a teacher at the time. I’m sure she would have been married and had children of her own,” Dorothy Moxley said of her slain daughter, Martha. “She could have made a difference as an adult. Maybe she still can make a difference –maybe wealthy injustices, this case may be able to do something about that.”
|
|
| |
Dorothy Moxley has waited 23 years for justice – 23 years to find the person who murdered her daughter with a golf club a few footsteps from their home, in the gated Greenwich community of Bellhaven.
According to Chief Stephan Baran of the Greenwich Police, “A thing like this can unfortunately happen anywhere.”
Now, those familiar with the case believe that the details are becoming much clearer. “I’m feeling quite sure it’s in that family, between those boys,” Baran said.
“Those boys” are Tommy and Michael Skakel, who have always maintained their innocence in the crime. They are the nephews of Ethel Skakel Kennedy who married Bobby Kennedy in 1950.
In 1975, the Skakel family lived across the street from the Moxleys.
On the night of the murder, Martha Moxley was last seen with 17-year-old Tommy Skakel. Stories vary on the details of the nature of their relationship.
According to police, the golf club used to kill Martha Moxley came from a set in that was found in the Skakel house.
Police reported that Tommy Skakel was a suspect in the case almost immediately. As the investigation continued, the Skakel’s tutor, Ken Littleton, also became a suspect. But after a battery of lie detector tests and interviews, no arrests were made, and Littleton was granted immunity.
Today, there seems to be a lot more questions surrounding the involvement of Tommy Skakel’s younger brother, Michael, who was 15 when Martha Moxley was killed. Some wondered if Michael Skakel also had strong feelings for her.
According to Michael Skakel’s new lawyer, Mickey Sherman, “There was no relationship.”
Sherman also insisted that his client did not commit the murder, but he did admit that Michael Skakel is under investigation.
“They brought in his priest, his drug counselor, his father, people that he apparently spoke to in a program. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they are drawing some wagons in a circle around him a little bit,” Sherman said.
Ironically, the William Kennedy Smith rape trial revived interest in the Moxley murder case.
Author Dominick Dunne, who was in the courtroom during the Smith trial, recalled, “During that case, a rumor went around that William Kennedy Smith had been in the Skakel house in Greenwich the night of the murder of Martha Moxley.”
The rumor proved to be false. But it rekindled interest in the Martha Moxley case. Dunne wrote A Season In Purgatory, which was inspired by Moxley’s murder.
Journalist Len Levitt published an article that was highly critical of the police investigation of Martha Moxley’s murder.
“They didn’t give him a lie detector test early on. They ruled Michael Skakel out as a suspect early on. I think the police regret that now,” Levitt said.
Frank Garr was the dispatcher the night of the murder, and since the late 1980s, he has been the lead investigator on the case.
“I wouldn’t characterize the investigation as having made mistakes,” Garr said. “I feel more confident today, as we speak, more than I ever have that we will reach a successful conclusion to this investigation.”
Garr is optimistic because a grand jury in Bridgeport now has heard testimony from nearly 40 witnesses in the Moxley case.
Witnesses include people who were with Michael Skakel at a school for troubled teens in Maine. The key question for the grand jury is what, if anything, was said about the murder while he was there?
|
|
