Mugshots: Michael Skakel - A Killing in Greenwich | Forensic Files

after he got through beating her with this golf club then he stabbed her with it he is accused of a murder that
happened when he was only 15 she showed me crime scene photographs of Martha Moxley dead I can't tell you how awful
those pictures were now they have a murder of a beautiful girl and now they have suspects that are related to the
kennedies after more than 25 years and several bestselling books Michael skel has emerged as the prime suspect Michael
skel didn't commit this crime he has no idea who did and he hopes this is over as soon as possible family secrets next
on mug shots [Music] Greenwich Connecticut one of the richest communities in America October 30th 1975
the Night Before Halloween Mischief Night a group of teenage residents prow their exclusive neighborhood called Bell
Haven the entrance is protected by a guard station and its streets regularly patrolled by the Greenwich
Police in the group is 15-year-old Martha Moxley a freshman at Greenwich high school she lives with her parents
David and Dorothy Moxley and her older brother John Martha had been grounded because she came in late the week before
because she'd been so good the kids came and said you know could could Martha go
with them they were just going to go out and I said sure she could go Martha stops off with her friends at the home
of her neighbors Tommy and Michael skel the Moxley had moved to Bell Haven only a year earlier and Martha had just
gotten to know the skle boys 17-year-old Tommy and 15-year-old Michael were both
interested in her the kids all ended up at the skel house and uh this is where a
lot of things happen former Greenwich detective Steve Carrol spoke with several of Martha's friends about what
they saw that night they were actually in the car Tommy was rubbing Mar his leg and now he had a couple of drinks he had
several drinks and probably a little grass and he was feeling his oats so he's rubbing her leg and she
keeps pushing his hand away now Michael sees this and when you think about it you can probably realize it that he's
saying oh jeez my brother's rubbing a leg he's going to move in before I do at around 9:30 Martha was seen with Tommy
scel rough housing and kissing on the lawn about 150 yards from her home by 11:00 p.m. Martha had not yet returned
home but her mother expected her shortly I just sat and watched the news and actually fell asleep and when I woke up
it must have been 1:30 2:00 and I went upstairs and Martha wasn't home and that's when I started
calling everyone she called the skakel's house since the death of their mother in
1973 the skakel boys had quite a reputation for being Wild unruly and well-connected
they were related by marriage to the kennedies with their father out of town the skakle kids were left in the care of
a tutor I did talk to Tommy and I asked him if he knew where Martha was and he said no I don't remember the exact words
but it was like no you know she left and I came in the house at 3:48 in the morning Dorothy Moxley called the police
they responded and made a quick search around the house finding nothing they suggested that Martha was probably fine
and would come home soon but by Sunrise there was still no sign of Martha at 12:45 p.m. a neighbor of the Moxley Came
Upon the body of a female answering a description of Martha Moxley underneath a large pine tree approximately 200 ft
from the Moxley [Music] home the these two youth officers got the call to go down to the Bell Haven
area because they just found a body the Japanese maple which was a lot smaller 25 years ago is where she was
killed after being dragged across this driveway and then she was dragged from that spot from a big pool of blood Down
Under that large pine which is probably 60 May 70 ft tall now and that's where her body came to rest
it was the first homicide that Steve Carol or any of the Greenwich detectives had handled the image disturbs him more
than 25 years later her head was a bloody mess she was a blonde but you could never tell that she was a blonde
she had a long hair but it was matted down blood very thick and heavy this one friend went to see if for
sure it was Martha and what condition she was in she came back just in like um 2 minutes and she said it was Martha and
that Martha was [Music] dead the instrument used in the Striking of the Moxley girl was a golf club we
know that we found a piece of the shaft outside of the pool of blood about 10 11
in Long there was another piece in the blood and it was all blood smudged that was about 10 or 11 Ines now in looking
further we found the head of the club six Tony Penna with probably an inch or so of the shaft on
it police dusted the pieces of the club for fingerprints but found none that day
as they fann out across Bell Haven detectives found a set of Tony Penna clubs at the skakel house missing a six
iron after interviewing the skakel and Martha's friends police soon determined that Tommy skakel was the last person to
see Martha Moxley alive they began to build a case that pointed at Tommy we figured that he wanted to
get in her pants and Martha no way turkey you know shove off so she starts to go home again uh theorizing she's not
running away nothing to fear so he starts after her walking fast picks up a club the golf club which turns out to be
the six iron Tony pennett Tommy skakel was brought to Police Headquarters to make a formal statement he said he had
had nothing to do with Martha's death he told them the last time he saw her was at 9:30 p.m. when he went up to his room
to do a homework project on Abraham Lincoln Police soon checked the story and teachers told them there was no such
assignment yes he did have some conversation with Martha at 9:30 he went in the house to do this project which he
stuck to and there was no such project due even when we told him this though he was not arrested from that time on for
the next 20 years years Tommy skakel was the prime suspect in the murder the day
after the murder police got Tommy's father rush in skakel's consent to search his house but they did not get an
official search warrant in the mudro of the house was found a set of Tony pennis
and there were a couple of clubs missing one of them being the six iron but the other clubs were out on the the back
deck so then it was realized now we were faulted for not taking the set out of the house which we never did they did
look around the house for other Clues we did have some clothes that we thought were bloody and it turned out to be
bottom paint copper paint that you put on the bottom of a boat so no bloody clothes no bloody sneakers nothing like
that which was really odd 2 days after the murder State Police gave Tommy a polygraph the results were
inconclusive Tommy passed a second lie detector test a week later however as the months passed Tommy remained a
suspect one of the teachers at one of the schools rebelled about giving them any of their records and they just
stopped cooperating completely and the investigation more or less just stopped in its tracks then the only thing we had
was Theory everything's circumstantial and then of course as of February of 76 I believe it was when uh rushon recent
Ed this permission we couldn't even talk to Tommy meanwhile Tommy's younger brother Michael skakel was never
polygraphed he seemed to have an airtight Alibi because police concluded the time of death was about 10:
p.m. Michael had left the skakel house before 9:30 to drive to his cousin's house returning after 11:00 p.m. time of
death we determined was from the barking dogs and a lot of people scoffed at that
but uh if you've ever seen an animal if something is happened they'll jump up and down and bark I was painting the
mions you know that's the little boards on the windows I was painting the mullions and and the window was open it
was very cold and I heard this commotion we had several neighbors who had dogs and I guess their dogs are barking to
this was taking place at about 9:30 9:40 Michael said that he didn't get back until after 11:00 it looked like Michael
skagle was in the clear and Tommy had ped pass a lie detector test when mug shots continues the skakel family wealth
and connections raise obstacles and the police investigation comes to a grinding
halt they followed up on all kinds of leads I mean they did everything that they could but it they just wasn't
[Music] enough at 40 years old Michael skakel has lived a life of privilege protected
by wealth and power power you look at the pictures of him at the time of the murder when he was this cute teenage kid
and you look now with this kind of fat slob I think in some regards he he's rather a pathetic man he never knew any
other way to live his life than what his parents and his family presented for him
uh Rich privileged above the law for 25 years no one was arrested for the murder of Martha Moxley but that
didn't stop her mother from pursuing Justice I am here today because my daughter Martha who was a wonderful
young lady was beaten to death with a golf club 25 years ago I it will be 25 years
this October I'm not here for any other reason than that I think that whoever killed
Martha needs to be punished and many spec ated that rushan skakel's wealth and connections protected his sons for
so long this is Bel Haven Bel Haven is a private area in Greenwich Bel Haven has
his own Beach Club and uh boating facilities uh everything which is private to the residents of Belhaven
rushon skakel was air to a coal fortune that made the skakel even richer than their famous relatives the kennedies it
was uh called Great Lakes carbon and Great Lakes carbon is like kind of like Union Carbide that's the
kind of business they went but it was privately owned Mrs skel had died and they had a nanny and they all went to
private schools rushon to the best of my knowledge really never worked as a matter of fact he was home more than
anything doing his own thing and which was a lot of drinking he was an absentee father on many many many occasions kids
were pretty much led to do things on their own and uh they never really had the answer to anyone nobody had any
powers of chastising or anything like that our lives were quite different they were a big Catholic Family and we were a
small Protestant family um so it was different the skakel weren't just any big Catholic Family they were related to
America's most prominent one in June 1950 rushan sister Ethel had married Robert F Kennedy Rush skagle was always
at the cocktail parties that people gave for us and we all knew that his sister was married to Bobby Kennedy that was
one of the first things we were told when we moved into the neighborhood though David Moxley was president of one
of the country's largest accounting firms they were hardly as rich as the scagel the moxley's were a family that
uh you can't help but like you know a daughter and a son uh you know athletes popular good-look kids father worked as
way up into in touch Ross and he was a hard worker uh mother stayed at home and the scene in October of 1975 you know
Dorothy is redoing a fixer upper in Bell Haven if there's such a thing today Dorothy Moxley lives in New Jersey one
of her teachers wrote on her report card that when Martha came in the room it was
like the sun coming up in the morning Martha was always a very good child very easy to handle she had a lot of friends
and she was a very good student you know it was kind of her blossoming time it would have been a wonderful time for her
the events of that October night and the decades that followed are fresh in her mind the last time I spoke to Martha was
when she was going out the door that night to be with her friends it was it was very cold and I think she knew
they'd be using shaving cream and maybe throwing eggs or something like that and
she had her old down parka cuz it was cold it was freezing cold out that night in the morning when I woke up I got
dressed and I went over to the skakel because I thought that's the last place she was seen Michael came to the door
and he looked disheveled he he looked sort of a mess and it was barefoot I remember that
very clearly he was barefoot Michael said he didn't know where she was yet from the hours after Martha's
murder there were signs that the Greenwich Police were treading a bit too carefully around the
skakel I think it was uh a case of circumstances where uh did we tread lightly uh probably uh out of respect or
fear uh I'm not sure but we thought really that we were doing a good job power and money wealth Kennedy
connection it's got to be uh an overpowering influence once the skakel stopped cooperating Gren police were stuck then
in the fall of 1976 the skakel livein tutor Ken Littleton failed a lie detector test
police eventually concluded that Littleton had remained in the skakle house the whole night of the murder but
they suspected he knew more than he revealed really wasn't that precise as the needles go but they they knew he was
lying or probably more evasive meanwhile Dorothy Moxley had discovered Martha diary I did read Martha's diary after
she died in the last week she mentioned meeting the skakel boys Tommy and Michael and she mentioned she had to be
careful because she didn't trust one of them unfortunately for investigators Martha's diary never said which one well
I didn't know she knew the gel voice I mean this was after she died and we were wondering if the skakel had anything to
do with this Dorothy Moxley gave Greenwich Police the diary and other items belonging to Martha they asked me
if I would take a polygraph I mean we were willing to do anything just because we wanted to help the investigation and
I know they gave John a polygraph my son I guess it was because he was home at the time also we didn't want to rule out
anybody there was so much criticism uh about how we were doing the job or not doing the job that we felt that darthy
could be responsible maybe she and Martha had a thing going and there was a little jealousy or whatever so and it
was tough believe me it was very tough so we brought them both up so is not to leave any Stones unturned both Dorothy
and John passed the polygraph so had Tommy skakel though he remained a suspect all other possible suspects the
police investigated were eventually excluded every lead was tracked as far as it could go the investigation into
the murder of Martha Moxley appeared to run out of steam the case was marked unsolved and basically put to bed once
in a while we would hear from the police that maybe someone who had been arrested
on drugs would say you know if if their sentence was made a little easier they would be able to tell us a little bit
about who killed Martha or something and they followed up on all kinds of leads I
mean they did everything that they could but it there just wasn't enough the skakle brothers meanwhile went on with
their lives in 1978 the younger brother Michael was arrested for driving while intoxicated
and failing to comply with an officer his father sent him to the Elon School in Maine a school for wealthy teens with
emotional or substance abuse problems it was at Elon during group therapy that Michael would allegedly
confess to killing Martha Moxley but those statements would not come to light for more than a decade
not until another Kennedy relative got into serious trouble for alleged violence against another young
woman this started with the William Kennedy Smith case and the reinvestigation starting in
1991 William Kennedy Smith went on trial for rape when mugshots continues how that trial 16 years later LED police to
reopen the long dormant investigation into the murder of mar the MOX Le a rumor went through the courtroom that
William Kennedy Smith had been an overnight guest in the skle house in 1975 on the night of the
[Music] murder um I thought that we were going to have sex Dominic Dunn is a writer who
has covered many high-profile homicide cases including the murder of Martha Moxley
I was in Palm Beach covering the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith and he had my arm
p and and I was yelling no a rumor went through the courtroom uh that William Kennedy Smith
had been an overnight guest in the skakel house in 1975 on the night of the murder we find the defendant not guilty
the idea that William Kennedy Smith might have been involved in the murder of Martha Moxley seemed far-fetched
I took off for granite to check that out it was a fake story it was false he was
not there but it got me interested in that c I said whatever happened to that case and there was a personal motive for
Dominic Dunn to take interest also on the night before Halloween but in 1982 his daughter the actress Dominique
Dunn was strangled by her boyfriend the killer served only 2 and 1/2 years in prison it was the William Kennedy Smith
trial and that was the seed that was planted or that was the little Center of that snowball and it's just taken off I
mean it's just grown and grown the story brought the Moxley case back into the national Limelight linked to the history
of Kennedy family scandals and after 16 years it caused Greenwich Police to reopen the unsolved case the fact that
there was no search warrant I mean is one of the most outrageous things when they knew
that the golf club came from the set of golf clubs that belonged to the late mother in the skel household there had
to have been intimidation of the police I mean this was a very very rich family and they were a very well-connected
family as we know and the Moxley family on the other hand were the new folks in town they didn't have the connections in
the town Dominic Dunn contacted Martha's mother I received a letter from Dominic
that was forwarded to me through the grage time I believe she met me in a coffee shop at the Baltimore Washington
Airport and we talked and I said to her I could write a novel about your daughter's murder and put the spotlight
back on the case and she was very hesitant at first about about it but when I told her that I too was the
parent of a murdered daughter she said okay the book was called a season in purgatory it was fiction but when it was
published in 1993 the publicity around it made the source very clear I had to make up a lot of the story but the
murder itself is amazingly accurate I mean for uh liable reasons I changed the golf club to a baseall ball bat the book
did become a bestseller uh Dan Rather did a 7 minute segment about how a bestselling novel
reopened a case by the time Dominic Dunn's book was in the shops the Martha Moxley murder case was back in the
American Consciousness amid all the new publicity Tommy scagel was still the main suspect
so his father took action to clear his son's names once and for all rush and scel hired a private detective agency in
New York called the Sutton agency and they all signed a confidentiality oath and the Sutton private detectives had
access to the skakle children in a way that the Greenwich Police never had access to and they worked for several
years three years investigating it they ran up a bill of $750,000 the Sutton report was meant to
cover all the bases after the Connecticut medical examiner stated that DNA testing could be used on
the victim's clothing there were even new aliis for Tommy and his brother Michael for Michael this was a
double-edged sword he told this story of having climbed a tree outside of Martha's room that night and
masturbated from the tree by covering for the DNA he placed himself at the crime scene on the night of the
murder worse for Michael the files contained the Revelation that he' reportedly confessed to the murder while
at the Alan School Michael skakel's name had never come into the story until this
time because of the findings rushan skakel stopped the report from being completed Rush Cel paid off the
$750,000 bill and everyone had signed a confidentiality oath except the kid they brought in to put
the thing in in sequence they'd forgotten to ask him to sign it and he was so distressed that the case was
being put into the back of a file cabinet somewhere that he stole it and he'd seen me on TV and he'd read my
book and he contacted me dun never revealed the name of the leaker he did take the next step in advancing the
investigation he placed the report in the hands of one of the most controversial former detectives in
America Mark Ferman is a guy who who just gets attention there's no two ways about him like him dislike him it
doesn't matter you notice him he gets on every TV show he got right in the face of the grenwich police Fearless told
them what a rotten job they' done got kicked out of town this starts there's a buzz about Mark Ferman and Mark furman's
book for which I wrote the introduction is really what ultimately brought about the grand jury after 25 years when
mugshots continues Mark Ferman starts the investigation from scratch and points the finger at a new
suspect when you really look at the skel household Tommy and Michael should have
been the only two and you sit Tommy and Michael down Michael would have been the
one you picked in the OJ Simpson trial detective Mark Ferman was accused of planting a
bloody glove he was also caught lying about his past use of racial epithets I had never met Mark Ferman at
the OJ Simpson trial he was surrounded by police the whole time you couldn't get near him Dominic Dunn had Sympathy
for the retired cop I happen to be an admirer of of Mark Ferman I think it was unfortunate what happened on the stand
it was too bad that he was not better advised by the prosecution lawyers and he should never have lied but the fact
remains he's a great detective Mark Ferman had written a book about the Simpson case Dominic Dunn helped
convince him to write his next book on the Moxley murder well Nick knew what he was doing he he got me hooked and then
he kept filtering information to me until I got it all and then by that time I was ready to present it to the
publisher who was asking if I was going to do another book and boom uh murder and granich is
born Mark Ferman first approached Dorothy Moxley I said you know I think I can solve this and then I said I think I
can get it into court and when I when I left that day um I felt like I had a heavy burden on
my shoulders I just uh told this woman that has been waiting 23 years for some solution to her daughter's homicide and
I just told her I could solve it so I had no choice then I actually had to go out and uh and solve it he began by
walking into the Greenwich Police Department they were not happy to see him I was kind of shocked uh when I went
to Greenwich when I was even in the police station reading the redacted report somebody came up to me a captain
came up and says uh you know there's nothing in there a lot of people have looked at
it there's nothing there they wanted me to be um satisfied with the company line
and I've never been satisfied with the company line at one point mark Ferman was even threatened with arrest if he
ventured near Bell Haven well it hurt them it certainly didn't hurt me because uh just imagine if they embraced my
efforts they could have told me anything I would have written it down because I trusted him but Ferman got help from one
of the original Detectives Steve Carrol was at the murder scene that morning in 1975 working his first homicide case he
asked me if I'd be willing to talk about the case and maybe give him some help and I said well Mark I I said I'd like
to call uh darthy Moxley and ask her what her feeling is on this and he said to me hold on I'll put her on I said
what he said I'll put her on he said we're at her house so he had already done his homework I said no need I said
uh I know how she feels and uh I'd be more than happy to help in whatever way I could detective Steve Carroll he's
retired but he was very gracious and spent a lot of time with me and walked me through the whole thing and his um
absence of ego at not being able to solve this case was uh a great great contribution because he admitted things
that I think other detectives wouldn't have that he didn't understand something that he didn't see things the way he
wished he could have so when I reinvestigated it that's when things started becoming very
clear Ferman started by profiling the attacker based on evidence from the crime scene the first thing they missed is the
most obvious she knew the suspect there's a half hour to an hour gap between the first blow and when the
suspect hit her body a transient would do his crime and then leave no connection whatsoever next he looked at
the murder weapon the rare Tony Penna Golf Club the suspect attacked her with a weapon of convenience that's obvious
probably attacked her from the rear now they go into the skakle home and one of the detectives notices the same brand of
clubs minus the club that's at the scene now that's good police workk you put two
and two together that's a pretty good clue but they don't pursue it finally and most importantly Ferman focused on
the time of death which Greenwich Police had set around 10 p.m. Dorothy said something to um detective Captain Tom
Keegan uh early on about voices and dogs barking at about 10:00 now Keegan he had
no detective experience regarding homicides and he immediately made that the time of death and
forensically it didn't fit but yet he established that which eliminated Michael cuz he didn't come home till 112
and even when they attended the autopsy they didn't listen to the pathologist who said she could have died anytime
between 9:30 at night till 5:30 in the morning that's a broad window Ferman reestablished a wider time frame for the
time of death and Michael skel became a suspect earlier when Sutton investigators asked the boys how they'd
explain it if their DNA were found at the scene both Tommy and Michael came up with new aliis now Tommy's wasn't any
big deal it was corroborated from other Witnesses other than people in the skle family that he and Martha were horsing
around wrestling around in the lawn he expanded that to talk about you know making out petting mutual masturbation
and again we're accounting for DNA hair fiber uh you know saliva we're accounting for bodily fluids but Michael
skel's story changed far more significantly we heard these stories that he was a discipline problem we knew
he had a drinking problem problems at school so he did definitely was somebody who we wondered about but then we can't
go any further with Michael cuz he's got an alib on Michael's new statement is this we got home at 11:20 I decided I
was horny I go roaming around the neighborhood peeping in women's Windows went over to the Moxley house climbed
the tree outside Martha's bedroom masturbated in the tree climb down out of that run home this is this is the
Whopper Of All Times Michael just put himself at all the places the suspect would be doing all the Motions probably
making all the statements accounting for DNA evidence and being seen there Ferman
combined this evidence with Michael's previous alleged confessions at the Alan School the family did a very good job of
hiding Michael but they couldn't cut off his vocal Court uh and that was his undermining now I was only able to find
a counselor and a couple people that had partial confessions but nonetheless things that only the murderer would know
now you you collectively put all that together and then now you you write a book Mark furman's book murder in
Greenwich was published in the spring of 1998 in it he did something very rare he
named the person he believed committed the murder of Martha Moxley I got word from a very high up in Conneticut State
prosecutor's office that uh my book was bought in bulk and uh passed out to prosecutors and the Word was uh get
ready for a grand jury I think this is the first time that prosecutors that weren't there in 1975 ever heard
Michael's name in June 1998 a grand jury was appointed to investigate the murder
of Martha Moxley it was a really momentous time it was one of the Miracles that happened still ahead the
grand jury concludes and after 25 years Michael skakel is finally arrested for the murder of Martha Moxley it was the
same feeling I got at every case you work hard you stay up late you you chase things down people think you're nuts
half the time yeah and uh after the grand jury was formed you know gotcha on January 19th 2000 after 18
months of grand jury testimony prosecutors announced the arrest of Michael skel for the 1975 murder of
Martha Moxley he was booked and then released on $500,000 bail when I really figured it
out my accomplishment was when I sat with uh Dorothy and John Moxley uh a week before the book came
out and I had given them copies and then we had dinner and Dorothy said well finally after 23 years I think I know
what happened to [Music] Martha Michael skel didn't commit this crime he has no idea who did and he
hopes this is over as soon as possible okay thank you very much defense attorney Mickey Sherman believes
his client is fighting an uphill battle against the publicity I can't imagine how Michael deals with this I think I
handled pressure pretty well but I can't imagine the pressure of facing a murder
trial and being considered a pariah not in his community but in the world I mean
when you go through the checkout counter and see Kennedy murder confession you know right right above the raisinets
that's going to be incredibly wearing the grand jury heard testimony from more than 50 Witnesses including former Elon
school students John Higgins and Gregory Coleman they testified that Michael skakel allegedly confessed to the murder
while undergoing rehab the entire State's case allegedly comes from this Elon program where some folks he was
with have said 20 22 years later Michael SK will confess to me look at what they
say look how they admitted that they've given different stories at different times and I'm not talking about slight
discrepancies one has already testified before the grand jury while under the influence of heroin which they shot up
an hour before testifying Sherman says prosecutors have drawn the wrong conclusion about the murder weapon with
respect to the golf club the best explanation has been given by the police and they've testified that it was common
knowledge that the skel family often left golf clubs around the property and all it does is is say that that club
came from the scle household still have been picked up by anyone so that's that's not a Smoking Gun not not by a la
show after his arraignment on March 14th 2000 Michael skakel took a step that triggered a new controversy I said to
Michael Michael you're going to see Dorothy Moxy for the first time in 25 26 years you think you should say something
to her he said I'd like to say something I said what do you want to say he said I
don't know but I I just like to say something I said you know something whatever you want to say say it what he
said was Dorothy I feel your pain but you've got the wrong guy I was in sense that he would call me Dorothy I mean you
know I'm sorry but I do believe I deserve some more respect than that he should have called me Mrs
Moxley um and I I mean he and he shouldn't have talked to me it wasn't the right thing to do I think he did the
Humane thing if if it wasn't taken in the right way so be it but uh if we had to do all over again I would have made
the same suggestion and I would have hope he would have made the same comment in June 2000 the skakel and Kennedy
Clans made a show of force Michael skakel was followed by his brother John and sister Julie and by cousins Robert F
Kennedy Jr and Douglas Kennedy as he appeared for a probable cause hearing yeah I don't see how it involves Bobby
Kennedy's if he's got the time to come here good for him the thing that I've always found so
curious about the Kennedy's support of Michael is that Michael wrote a treatment for a book in which he says
absolutely terrible things about his cousins the kennedies and yet Bobby Kennedy Jr was up hugging him and
supporting him everyone seems to say well they were the powerful and Rich skakel family related to the kennedies
therefore everyone tiptoed around quite the contrary there was never any suggestion that anybody from the Kennedy
family or or even the skle family called up to the police and said please uh take
it easy on these folks Sherman also argues that the skakel hid nothing from authorities rather than exhibit
consciousness of guilt by not talking to the police by shutting down by not letting anyone in they opened their home
the skle family essentially opened their home for like three months not 3 days not three weeks for three months they
allowed the Greenwich Police to have cart blanch then in November 2000 the Court held hearings on whether Michael
skakel should be tried as a juvenile I believe that Michael skakel should be tried died as an adult because it was
such a terrible crime if he had hit her once and had then realized that he' done
something wrong and put down the club and ran to get help that would be a different story but I mean this was
horrible just you know after he got through beating her with this golf club then he stabbed her with
it 3 months later in January 2001 judge Moren Dennis ruled that Michael skakel would indeed be tried as an adult and
Michael skel's attorney vowed he'd fight to the end there will be no ple bargain
I don't care if they offered us a suspended sense I don't care if they offered us 12 volunteer hours with the
dog pound this is not a ple bargain case still ahead the mysterious death of a witness and the promise of an
alibi I think that the defense is now looking for special little angles and twists and
stuff Michael has had 26 years to come up with an alibi it's the same Alibi he had
before 26 years after the murder of Martha Moxley the wheels of Justice are in motion but the outcome is still very
much in doubt we've got the right person I'm expecting another miracle I've had many miracles so far and expect
another one and if I need another angel I'm sure the good Lord is going to send one
down Michael skakel who escaped scrutiny for two decades faces trial for the murder yet more obstacles are in the way
Michael could very well be acquitted in this trial I mean 25 years is a long time and uh if the Witnesses are mainly
from the Elon school and we're drug addicted or drunken at the time they can be pulled apart by Mickey
Sherman on the stand but you know what I've learned by covering as many cases as I have is that no one must ever
mistake and a quiddle for innocence on August 7th 2001 star prosecution witness Gregory Coleman was found dead of an
apparent heroin overdose Coleman had told the court he heard Michael skel confess to the murder while in rehab at
the Yon School the prosecutor insisted he'd press on Greg Coleman just died of a drug overdose and that was very sad I
respected him so much and I believed everything he said they do have his testimony and Mickey Sherman was able to
cross-examine him so I don't know that the case is going to suffer but it would be better if he were with us skakel's
attorney Mickey Sherman promised that if his client went to trial he'd offer an airtight alibi Michael skel when he was
15 told the police where he was he was at his cousin's house according to the original police reports was not of there
when this crime was committed but that only holds if the time of death remains around 1: p.m. that's the time of death
that's been the time of death for 22 years until they decided you know something let's shave the edge off this
jigsaw puzzle it'll fit better and a lot of that I I lay at the feet of Mark Ferman for his book is he put this
premise out there and uh as I say it makes a a more interesting story but it doesn't bear that much resemblance to
the truth the murder weapon came from your house and you confessed a half dozen times to people and you changed
your Alibi and admitted you lied to the police in 1975 that you were virtually every place the suspect was at almost
the exact time so uh when Mickey Sherman can overcome that then we can really start talking about forensic science
after a quarter of a century the long journey towards Justice nears an end But whichever way the case goes it is bound
to be used as an example of how wealth and power too often wield an unfair influence I think that he's avoided it
this long because of uh the family and Association uh is he being pursued because he uh it's part of that family
uh I would hope not I would hope that he's being pursued because he's responsible for this heinous death and
not because he is who he is I think people are just uh resigned that well you know the rich people always get off
you know rich man's justice but that's not going to be the case here we don't have this big uh Rich uh dream team as
you will we're just plotting forward and he's going to win because he's not guilty now 26 years later I have
patience I'm you know whatever it takes to do this I'll do I mean I I couldn't feel better about the whole situation
and I do think it's like a miracle e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

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Brief Summary

Martha Moxley's murder investigation reveals family connections, police failures, and Michael Skakel's eventual arrest after decades of inaction.

Key points

The Murder of Martha Moxley. Martha Moxley was brutally murdered in 1975, leaving a community in shock.
The Skakel Connection. The Skakel family, related to the Kennedys, becomes embroiled in the investigation.
A Long-Lasting Investigation. Despite the wealth and connections of the Skakel family, the investigation stalls.
Mark Ferman Takes Charge. Mark Ferman begins a new investigation into the Moxley murder, focusing on overlooked evidence.
Grand Jury Investigation. After years of waiting, a grand jury is appointed to investigate the murder of Martha Moxley.
Michael Skakel's Arrest. Michael Skakel is arrested for the murder of Martha Moxley after 25 years of speculation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I can't tell you how awful those pictures were.

Describing the crime scene photographs of Martha Moxley.

0:13WatchJul 28, 2014

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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