The murder of Martha Moxley
Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut · October 30, 1975
A Kennedy cousin was convicted of killing a fifteen-year-old neighbor, spent more than eleven years in prison, and then saw the conviction thrown out in 2018 and the state give up on a retrial in 2020, leaving the case exactly where it began in 1975: a golf club, a driveway and no one convicted.
Overview
On the night before Halloween, October 30, 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley left her home in the Belle Haven section of Greenwich, Connecticut, to spend mischief night with friends. She was last seen at about half past nine, in the driveway of the neighboring Skakel family, and her body was found the next afternoon under a pine tree behind her parents' home. She had been beaten with a golf club that was later determined to have belonged to the Skakel children's late mother. The case went cold for years. After a 1998 book and a grand jury, Michael Skakel, who was also 15 on the night of the killing, was arrested in 2000 and convicted of murder in 2002. In 2018 the Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed an order for a new trial, holding that his trial lawyer had failed to find a crucial alibi witness. In October 2020 the state's chief prosecutor said the state could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and would not retry him. Skakel has always said he is innocent; Moxley's brother has said he still believes Skakel killed her. Nobody is now convicted or charged.
Where it stands
For sixteen years the Moxley case looked closed. A Norwalk jury convicted Michael Skakel of murder in June 2002, the Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in 2006. Then it collapsed. In 2013 a habeas court judge ruled that Skakel's trial lawyer had been ineffective and ordered a new trial. In 2016 the state supreme court, in a closely divided decision, reversed that ruling. On reconsideration, in May 2018, the same court held that the lawyer had failed to find a crucial alibi witness who was not a relative, affirmed the order for a new trial, and described the conviction as resting on a case that was "far from overwhelming" and "devoid of any forensic evidence or eyewitness testimony linking the petitioner to the crime." The U.S. Supreme Court declined the state's appeal in January 2019. On October 30, 2020, the 45th anniversary of the killing, Chief State's Attorney Richard Colangelo Jr. told a Stamford judge that the state could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and would not retry Skakel. He said 17 of more than 50 potential witnesses had died, including the key witness who said Skakel confessed. So Skakel was convicted, the conviction was vacated, and he was not retried. His lawyer says he is innocent; Moxley's brother has said he still believes Skakel killed her. The sources reviewed identify no one else who has been charged. Skakel sued Greenwich and its lead investigator in 2023, alleging that evidence pointing to other suspects was withheld; those are allegations in a civil complaint, not findings. The case remains unsolved in the plainest sense: the only person the state ever convicted is no longer convicted.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Michael SkakelTried & acquitted
Prosecutors argued at trial that Skakel, a 15-year-old neighbor, killed Moxley after she rejected his advances while seeing his brother, CBS News reported. A Norwalk jury convicted him in 2002 and he was sentenced to 20 years to life. He was not acquitted: the Connecticut Supreme Court vacated that conviction in 2018, affirming an order for a new trial because his trial lawyer failed to present a non-family alibi witness, and the state said in October 2020 that it would not retry him. He has not been convicted of anything since. His lawyer says he is innocent; Moxley's brother has said he still believes Skakel killed her.[4]
- Skakel's older brotherNot publicly named
According to the Connecticut Supreme Court, he was the last person seen with Moxley, in the Skakel driveway at about 9:30 p.m., and for many years was the prime suspect. In 1976 police sought permission to apply for an arrest warrant, but the state's attorney did not believe the facts were enough to establish probable cause. He was never charged.[1]
- The Skakel family's live-in tutorNot publicly named
The Connecticut Supreme Court wrote that the tutor was also a prime suspect for a number of years but, after considerable investigation, was exonerated. He was never charged.[1]
Sources
- Skakel v. Commissioner of Correction (SC 19251), opinion released May 4, 2018
“a conviction founded on a case, aptly characterized by the habeas court as far from overwhelming, that was devoid of any forensic evidence or eyewitness testimony linking the petitioner to the crime”
- Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel won't face retrial in 1975 killing, prosecutor says
“45 years to the day after Martha Moxley, 15, was found bludgeoned to death”
- Kennedy cousin Skakel will not be retried
“The state cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
- Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel Will Not Be Retried In 1975 Killing Of Martha Moxley
“a lack of physical evidence and the death of a key witness”
- US Supreme Court Won't Take Case of Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel
“declined to hear an appeal from the State of Connecticut”
- Michael Skakel convicted of 1975 murder in Greenwich
“bludgeoned to death with a golf club”
- Michael Skakel Arraigned
“He didn't do it. He didn't commit this crime.”
- Kennedy cousin whose murder conviction was overturned sues former cop, Connecticut town
“spent 11 and a half years in jail”
- Dorthy Moxley, mother of Martha Moxley, dies at 92
“was beaten to death with a golf club in 1975 in Greenwich's Belle Haven neighborhood”
- Martha Moxley Was Killed in 1975. Now, Suspect Michael Skakel Speaks Out for First Time After Conviction Was Overturned
“Um, my name is Michael Skakel and why am I being interviewed?”