Synopsis
In 1975, fifteen-year-old Martha Moxley's body was found beaten to death in Greenwich, Connecticut. Two of the suspects named were Kennedy relatives: Thomas and Michael Skakel. The murder has gone unsolved ever since. Journalist Timothy Dumas delves into the history of the case.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1998-04-27 |
| Size | | Length: | 283 pages | | Height: | 10.0 in | | Width: | 6.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.5 in | | Weight: | 24.0 oz |
Publisher's Note
Martha Moxley haunts Greenwich, Connecticut. The battered body of the pretty and popular fifteen-year-old girl was discovered on Halloween in 1975 in the exclusive Greenwich neighborhood of Belle Haven, where she lived. She had been bludgeoned to death on the front lawn of her home the night before - known in the town as "Mischief Night". In the days immediately following the murder, rumors flew. Attention focused on members of the Skakel family, who lived across the street from the Moxleys. Thomas Skakel was the last know person to see Martha alive. The murder weapon, a ladies' golf club, came from the Skakel household. When the Greenwich police tried to pursue its investigation, however, the community closed in upon itself. Walls went up, lawyers were summoned, information was suppressed. Gradually, inexorably, evidence grew stale, witnesses turned unreliable, sources dried up, and suspects - Thomas Skakel was not the only one - went on with their lives. No one was ever charged. A Greenwich native and journalist, Dumas gives us an account of the Moxley case and its aftermath, showing how and why it has become woven into the very fabric of the town itself.
Industry Reviews
On the night of October 30, 1975, Martha Moxley, 15, was bludgeoned to death in her front yard with a golf club in affluent Greenwich, Conn. Dominick Dunne fictionalized these events in his 1993 bestseller, A Season in Purgatory. Now Dumas, formerly the managing editor of the Greenwich News, recounts the true story of Moxley's death and of how wealth and privilege appear to have been able to subvert justice. After describing the murder in harrowing detail, Dumas documents the investigations of the past 20 years, investigations that have seen information suppressed, once-willing witnesses back away and a battery of lawyers throw a protective wall around the prime suspect, Thomas Skakel, a classmate of the victim and a nephew of Ethel Kennedy. Skakel was the last person to see Moxley alive; the golf club that killed her came from the Skakel household. While the Skakel family initially agreed to cooperate with police, when it became evident that Thomas was a suspect, they closed ranks. While he remains a suspect, it seems unlikely that Thomas Skakel will ever be indicted, according to Dumas. People have moved on with their lives; many hope that memories of the crime will just fade away. Familiar with the area and the people involved, Dumas brings an unusual sensitivity and clarity to this disturbing tale. In the end, his book seems less about a murdered girl than about the devastation visited upon those whose lives were forever altered by the tragic events of a long-ago night. 8 pages of b&w photos. (May)
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