The Diary of Martha Moxley | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] Yeah you mentioned you grew up in grenage and you were there in 75 the first thing people ask you is did you
know moreth the [Music] Moxley B Haven Connecticut is a small private Community it has big Estates and
almost no crime but a 15-year-old girl has been brutally murdered there b Haven this was
a virtually exclusive very wealthy community in Greenwich Connecticut where murders just don't
occur my name's uh Richard Burns and I lived in grage back then that's the first time in 45 years we'd ever talked
about it my name is Tory Holland I grew up in B Haven and in 1975 I was 15 along
with Martha she just had this beaming personality and her beautiful blonde hair smiled all
the time I just smile you know it just made you feel like you were the center of of
of the world the skakel lived across the street from the Moxley they were a family of all these
boys except for Julie I went to school with them and Michael was a year behind me and Tommy
was year ahead of me it was a lovely place to grow up you just felt safe and that all changed after that
night the instrument used in the Striking of the Moxley girl was a golf club we know
that it's absolutely devastating nearly a quarter of a century would pass before police would
make an arrest for the murder of Martha Moxley 39-year-old Michael skel was charged
with murder Michael did you kill her I was shocked it's like Michael I know Michael's
[Music] innocent the evidence is much stronger suggesting that other people may have
committed the crime Bobby Kennedy Jr is Michael's cousin and he never believed for a
minute Michael skel committed this crime 27 years after the crime Kennedy cousin
Michael skel convicted in the murder of Martha Moxley Michael skagle spent 11 and a
half years in prison until his conviction was overturned on appeal an innocent man now goes free but
if Michael didn't kill Martha Moxley then who did this little girl this cute little
amazing girl was murdered brutally by somebody and I think it was somebody in that
neighborhood could Martha's diary hold the clue I believe all through this case there's someone who's been keeping a
secret [Music] [Music] after she was was murdered everything had changed you have no sense of Peace you
you've lost it all I think if she had said yes Tor Holland and Richard Burns have waited decades to speak publicly
about the event that forever marked their lives the death of their friend Martha
Moxley my backyard sort of melded into her front yard both both Tori and Martha were just 15 years old living in B Haven
Connecticut Martha's family had moved to the neighborhood a year earlier from California and Martha wasted no time
becoming the it girl she was not a Wallflower she wanted to meet everybody but everybody in Greenwich you know was
very kind of reserved Northeastern personalities she was very um an extrovert she was the California girl of
of all of us she was a joy to be around you know how can you kill someone like that it's so get you
yeah it was the night before Halloween October 30th 1975 also known as Mischief Night what
is Mischief Night basically you would throw toilet paper into the trees Harless fun Martha headed across the street to
hang out with her very wealthy Neighbors The skakel Family the skakel were cousins of the
kennedies rushan skel's sister Ethel had married Robert Kennedy in 1950 rushan had inherited a fortune from the
family's mining company they were a very famous family they just had a lot more attitude about you know they could do
anything Martha was friendly with the seven skel kids spending time mostly with Michael who was also 15 and his
older brother 17-year-old Tommy on Mischief Night Martha and two other friends met
Michael at the skel house around 900 p.m. they all piled into a Lincoln like this parked in the driveway Michael and
Martha are in the front seat of uh the skagle carp reporter Len levit now deceased was
interviewed in 2003 he spent more than 30 years investigating the night of Martha's death Tommy comes and joins
them so the three of them are sitting in the front seat Martha's in the middle between Tommy and Michael they're
listening to music they were in the Lincoln until around 9:30 p.m. when two other skel
Brothers said they needed the car so they could drive their cousin Jimmy terrion to his house
to watch the US premiere of Monty Python's Flying Circus Michael told police he left with his brothers and
cousin while Martha and her friends stayed behind with Tommy what goes on between Martha and Tommy then is sort of
playful pushing back and forth with sexual overtones at one point uh Tommy pushes Martha down and falls on top of
her and the friends are so embarrassed that they leave and go home home leaving Martha with
Tommy Martha never gets home Martha's mother Dorothy spoke with 48 hours in 2000 there's Martha and remembered that
around 1:00 a.m. the next morning she began calling Martha's friends and alerted the
police I was getting more worried and more worried I mean it just was not like her when the sun came up in Martha still
hadn't returned home Dorothy walked over to the skle house Michael answered the door I'm Dorothy Moxley and I live
across the street and I'm looking for my daughter Martha do you know if Martha is
here no Martha was not there and he looked he didn't look healthy he looked well I actually think he looked hung
over hours passed it was now almost noon on Halloween Tori was on her way to join the search
when another friend discovered Martha's body under this tree towards the back of
the Moxley property and I could see Mrs Moxley at the front door and she's going she didn't want me to come any
further but I could see the devastation with Mrs moxley's Steve Carroll was among the
first investigators from the Greenwich Police Department to walk up to Martha's body it was a maniacal attack that
should have stopped but didn't when Carol spoke with 48 hours in 2000 he was still shaken by what he had
seen we didn't even know what color hair she had because it was all uh blood red
and all of the blows or damage were all to her [Music] head and then we could see a path that
she had been dragged down in the High [Music] Grass down to where her final resting
place which was under the pine tree investigators traced the trail of blood to the Moxley driveway she had been
bludgeoned right near the driveway because there was a huge pull of blood there they discovered a piece of the
murder weapon the shaft of a Golf Club former Hartford current reporter and 48 Hours
consultant Lyn tuy it was a Tony Penna six iron golf club and she was struck so violently that the shaft of the golf
club shattered and one portion of the shaft was uh driven through her neck just a few hours later while C seen
the skel property police discovered a matching golf club that came came from the same set as the six iron that was
used to kill Martha it came from a set owned by an skakel Michaels and Tommy's late mother
police began taking a hard look at the skakel and they would find what sounded like tantalizing Clues left by Martha
herself in her diary [Music] [Music] I was still in shock that she was gone but that this had to be a beautiful
[Music] tribute to her to send her off a few days after Martha's murder on November 4th
1975 about 500 people gathered for her funeral and while family and friends mourned the teenager investigators were
learning more about Martha's relationship with Michael and Tommy skakel do you remember either the skakel
having a crush on Martha well it would be hard not to I know I did Martha's friends told police that
Tommy wanted to date her but his advances may not have always been welcomed on September 12th Martha wrote
in her diary di about going for ice cream with Michael and Tommy went driving in Tom's car and I was
practically sitting on Tom's lap he kept putting his hand on my knee and on October 4th a little over 3 weeks before
her murder Martha wrote I went to a party Tom S was being an ass at the dance he kept putting his arms around me
and making moves I did not know she was spending the time that she was spending with
them I did not hang around with them they scared me a little bit why what you mean well they because they were very
[Music] rambunctious 2 years earlier the seven skagle siblings lost their mom and to
cancer their father rushan struggled to parent them on the night of Martha's death he was away on a hunting trip
their father traveled quite a bit they were allowed to do whatever they'd like they definitely got into a lot of
trouble there's a lot of partying going on in that house I read that Michael skel had a drinking problem at age 13
really obvious say that's true and that drinking may have created conflict with Martha in her diary the
month before her death Martha wrote Michael was so totally out of it that he was being a real he kept telling me that
I was leading Tom on Michael jumps to conclusions I really have to stop going over
there Tommy and Michael were both known to have very explosive tempers the two of them were Fierce Rivals for anything
you know from Sports to affection a girl's attention Martha's possibly it was Daylight when Martha's body was
found but based on reports of neighborhood dogs barking the night before investigators believed that
Martha was killed sometime between 9:30 and 10 p.m. around the time she was thought to be at the
[Music] skakel remember Michael told police at around 9:30 he had left to go to his
cousin Jimmy aran's home and Martha had stayed behind with Tommy Tommy's story is that he last sees
her at 930 and he goes inside home to write a paper on Abraham Lincoln the police later find out that no teacher at
Tommy school ever assigned this [Music] paper levit says police initially considered Tommy a strong suspect but it
turns out that even if Tommy lied about about writing that paper he had an alibi
witness Tommy is seen again shortly after 10:00 with Ken Littleton Ken Littleton was a new tutor
who had just moved into the skel house that very day he told police that Tommy was watching TV with him around 1
p.m. he noticed nothing unusual about Tommy and that's significant because Martha had been murdered violently how
does Tommy do this how does Tommy manage to beat her to death move her body clean
himself up compose himself so that Ken Littleton says of Tommy I notice nothing about him out of the ordinary no arrests
were made months passed by and with advice from Tommy's lawyer rush and skakel stopped cooperating with police
he also fired Ken Littleton whose life unraveled shortly after he moved to nant tuet he drank heavily did drugs
committed crimes of petty Larsen investigators honed in on this skakel tutor speculating that his
downfall could be rooted in his involvement in Martha's murder but there were problems with that theory he's got
no motive to kill Martha he never knew Martha the manner in which mortha is killed indicates that it was somebody
who had a relationship with Marthur authorities found no evidence to prove Littleton was
involved years went by Martha's murder became a cold case there were no more leads to pursue there was no new
evidence in 1991 the trial of another Kennedy cousin William Kennedy Smith who was charged
with rape in Florida but acquitted would open a new chapter in the Moxley case there's an allegation which is false
that William Kennedy Smith was at the skle house the night of the murder that unfounded rumor and
persistent press coverage kept the heat on the grenage police department and prompted them to reopen the
investigation now they announce a reward and a hotline this time in an effort to
clear his family name rushan skakel hired his own team of invest investigators their findings became
known as the Sutton report but the effort backfired because that report for the first time pointed a finger at
another of rusan's sons Michael skakel Michael lied to the police Michael told police that after watching Monty
Python's Flying Circus at his cousin Jimmy teran's house he came home around 11:30 p.m. and went straight to bed but
he told his dad's investigators another story oh my God if I tell anybody that I
was out that night they're going to say I did [Music] it for 20 years investigators seem stymy
in their effort to find Martha's killer but all that changed in 1995 when someone leaked the Sutton
report to the press it was never supposed to see the light of day the report was an eyeopener Tommy admitted
to his father's investigators that all those years ago in 1975 he had lied to the police Tommy
told the Sutton investigators that he did not go into his house at 9:30 he stayed out outside making out with
Martha for 20 minutes Mutual petting semisexual encounter and suddenly cast himself as being most likely the last
person to see her alive and not just the last person to see her alive but who's with her at the time that investigators
believe she may have been killed correct but it wasn't just Tommy who changed the
story was it no Michael also changed his story remember Micha told police that after watching Monty Python at his
cousins he came back home around 11:30 p.m. and went straight to bed the report was devastating to the skakle family but
then he described a very different scenario to those private investigators he's feeling horny around
midnight he's drunk and he goes out and he climbs a tree outside Martha's window
and he masturbates in the tree in fact in 199 7 michiva made a tape recording of that story while
working on a book proposal for a tell all autobiography I pulled my pants out I masturbated for 30 seconds in the tree
and I remember thinking oh my God I hope Scott nobody saw me but I woke up to Mrs
Moxley saying Michael has have you seen Martha I was like oh my god did they' see me last night
reports had also begun to circulate that Michael had actually confessed to Martha's
murder it was said to have happened while he was a student at a lawn a reform school that his father sent him
to after a drunk driving incident when he was 17 one former Alan student Gregory
Coleman recounted to a local news reporter what he says Michael told him back then then the first words he ever
said to me uh was I'm going to get away with murder I'm a Kennedy Coleman says Michael detailed
what he did to Martha that night he had made advances towards her and she rejected his advances and uh quote
unquote that he drove uh her skull and with the golf club after hearing from Coleman and
other former Alan students States Attorney Jonathan Benedict convened an unusual and rarely used oneperson Grand
Jury to look at all the evidence and all the suspects in the case after 18 months
and more than 40 Witnesses Mr he have anything to say Michael did you kill her the grand jury indicted Michael
skakel for murder 24 years after Martha's death Michael was 41 years old when his trial
began and how big a story was that it was huge the scene outside was circus like Mr skele do you have anything to
say anything to say Mr SK all the national media was there they had tents they had lights Michael's defense and
his only defense is that he did not commit this crime Michael sko was being represented by a well-known local
defense attorney Micky Sherman as charismatic as they come Mickey is no amateur when it comes to television
what's the motive for Michael skel killing Martha Moxley the only motive really is jealous
rage over the attention she was showing Tommy [Music] scagel in fact in that same book
proposal for his autobiography Michael wrote I wanted her to be my girlfriend I think Martha just rebuffed him she
could have been flirting with Tommy and maybe that made him angry on trial Michael
skel at trial prosecutor Jonathan Benedict began with discrediting Michael's Alibi that he had gone for
that ride to his cousin's house around the time of Martha's murder prosecutors called sko family friend Andrea
Shakespeare who had been at the skakel house that night Andrea Shakespeare is one of the witnesses who was certain
that Mr skakel never took that alibi ride Benedict put holes in Michael's Alibi but he later said Michael himself
provided the most damaging evidence the truth of the matter is that Michael skagle couldn't keep his mouth shut for
a quarter of a century Benedict is referring to all those admissions Michael allegedly made to killing Martha
like the one to a classmate Gregory Coleman although Coleman had died from a drug overdose before the trial began his
testimony from an earlier hearing was read to the jury that infuriated Michael's brother Stephen Greg Coleman
was high on heroin on methodone he was doing 20 to 25 bags of heroin a day it turns out that before trial Coleman
admitted to Michael's attorney that he was actually high on drugs when he testified before the grand
jury but the state put on nine other Witnesses who told the jury that Michael implied he had killed
[Music] Martha Michael how you feeling and then of course there was Michael's own words
from that tell all book proposal in closing arguments prosecutor Benedict played an edited excerpt for the jurors
oh my god did they see me last night and I remember just having a feeling of panic I think it very well may have been
the Lynch pin Michael Michel what do you mean by that driving the nail into the coffin of
Michael sko in terms of a guilty verdict it took the jury 4 days Michael skakel was convicted for Martha's murder
[Music] his sentence 20 years to life I know Michael skel and I know he didn't commit the crime Robert will you
talk with us a few months after trial Michael sk's cousin Robert Kennedy Jr accused the prosecutor of deliberately
misrepresenting Michael's words in that closing argument his tape recorded words
were used out of context by the prosecutor to imply that he was confessing to to the crime oh my god did
they see me last night because here's what the prosecutor didn't play in court and I remember thinking oh my God I hope
God don't be correspondent Leslie stall asked Benedict about it in hearing this myself
yeah without the the Preamble about masturbating to anybody is that he's actually talking about murdering her and
and isn't that really taking him out of context no I don't think so I think if I did this
on 48 Hours I'd be fired I think it's a fair suggestion based upon the evidence of the case it appeared to anybody who
looked at it that he was confessing he was saying that he was panicked because he had committed this crime and um and
that was really the segment that everybody agrees ended up convicting Michael skel and Robert Kennedy was determined
to exonerate his cousin 8 months after Michael skakel was sent off to prison Kennedy got a tip he believed would
reveal Martha's real killers [Music] to robertt Kennedy Jr it was the break he had been hoping for Kennedy got a tip
that a former classmate of Michael skakel a man named Tony Bryant was claiming he knew the identity of Martha
moxley's Killers so Kennedy and Michael's attorneys tracked Bryant down in Florida Bryant has made a full
confession of his involvement in that crime well that night this is Tony Bryant in 2003 videotaped by Michael
skel's team we decided to go up to greid and hang out he told them on the night of the murder he had taken two friends
Adolf Hasbrook also known as Al and Burton Tinsley to Bell Haven so do you believe that they killed her there's no
doubt in my mind that they were involved Bryant knew the two teens from New York
and told skel's investigators that Hasbrook had become upset ESS with Martha I mean love their beautiful
blonde hair Brian said that Hasbrook met Martha during previous trips to Bell Haven at a street fair and again at a
dance I'm trying to remember at one of the mixers and he got jealous of other guys coming up to her and talking to her
Tony claims Hasbro complained to him saying I don't understand why she's spending her time with those guys when
she would be with me on the night of the murder Bryan says he was with Hasbrook and tinsle when they all picked up golf
clubs from the skel backyard he claims that either Hasbrook or Tinsley bragged about wanting to hurt someone I got my
caveman club right and I'm going to go grab somebody and pull them by hair and do what caveman
zo Tony says he wanted know part of it so he left Bell Haven and then right after the murder when you met up with
both adol and B they told you we got we did it we did it we cheat our fantasy Brian stated that while his friends
never mentioned Martha Moxley by name I knew who they were implying it was it was so obvious because I mean the next
day it was all over I mean it was everywhere armed with Tony Bryant's story in 2005 Michael skakel's attorneys
filed an appeal asking for a new trial you're honor the petition for new trial that we've filed on behalf of Michael
skel claims new newly discovered evidence which involves the allegations concerning Tony
Bryant but at a hearing to present the New Evidence Bryant refused to testify under oath well of course he's not going
to do that because he admits that he brought them murderers to Greenwich because he could be charged with that
crime Kennedy says Brian wouldn't testify without immunity so skel's attorneys played his video statement but
the judge wasn't persuaded and rul against Michael skel Michael skel versus the state of Connecticut has been
concluded despite the judge's ruling almost a decade later in 2016 Robert Kennedy Jr repeated Bryan's
allegations in his book Framed using Martha's diary as evidence Kennedy claims that 3 weeks before her murder
Martha wrote that she saw Tony and two straight ERS at a dance but that's not quite accurate in her entry Martha
doesn't mention Tony and she never uses the word strangers she writes October 4th dear diary tonight was a Sacred
Heart dance when we walked in some guy asked me to dance some other guy asked me it turned out to be a slow dance it
was Stairway to Heaven at the fast party wouldn't even let go I also dance with Dicky Neil and Peter zensky a lot with
Dicky the dicky she mentions is actually Richard Burns who says he was with Martha much of that night seen Tony
Bryant do you remember that at all no did you ever meet Al Hasbrook no or Burton Tinsley no don't you think you
would have remembered if she was dancing with someone else who seem possessive of
her she didn't she didn't we danced the whole night Al Hasbrook is innocent Al Hasbrook declined to be interviewed and
we were unable to reach Burton Tinsley but hasook's attorney Larry schach describes the allegations as false and
inflammatory the coin of phrase it's black versus white let's blame somebody else it's the black guy let's blame him
why not let's take the most vulnerable person in our society and accuse him I am as certain as certain can be that
neither had anything to do with this Burton Tinsley and Al Hasbrook don't deny that they have been to Bell Haven
on several occasions but shach says there's no evidence that either one was in Bell Haven the night Martha was
bludgeon to death nobody saw Al hasb nobody they would have seen a young guy a black man in a very very white
community and a big guy but nobody saw him because he wasn't there somebody would have seen a strangers and
recognize that they were strangers nobody he did and I just thought that was kind of a cheap shot
that they were going after this black kid from New York City I mean you know really I think it's they're trying to
find a scapegoat what's more hasook's attorney is baffled as to why anyone would
believe Tony Bryant Briant has a criminal history that includes a 1993 conviction for armed robbery in
California we tried to reach him but up until a few weeks ago he was serving a 7-year sentence in a Florida prison for
tax evasion how are you feeling still shinbach says Kennedy irresponsibly perpetuates Brian's allegations with no
facts and no evidence he continues to to put forth this lie as a way of trying to
clear his cousin and I guess by extension the Kennedy name in November 2020 Kennedy insisted
to us that Tony Bryant has no reason whatsoever to lie about Al Hasbrook and Burton Tinsley when we pressed him about
it he got up from the interview chair do you have any regrets of pointing the finger at two people who've never been
suspects there's no physical evidence to tie them to the crime the is there's lots of evidence that ties them to the
crime you have their best friend who says they confess to him but in the end it wouldn't be the words of Tony Bryant
that changed everything for Michael sko [Music] [Music] Michael skel did not give up on April
16th 2013 skakel was back in court I do with his attorney Hubert Santos and a new
argument that that media Savvy defense attorney Mickey Sherman Mickey Mickey hired to defend Michael at his 2002
trial he was advised of his rights St had boted the case Mickey had me believing he was the
real deal he accused his former lawyer of being too chummy with the Press he said he was a media [ __ ] uh everything
about this trial is unique you spent most of your time talking to the media right is that a question yeah no and sko
claimed that Sherman failed to focus on a more viable suspect in moxley's murder
Michael's own brother Tommy you knew that Tommy skakel was the last person to see Martha Moxley alive I
believe so Sherman never presented evidence of Tommy's Infamous temper did you know
that he strangled a fellow classmate right in front of his teacher I don't recall that Sherman also failed to
convince the judge to allow Tommy to testify which could have raised doubts about Michael's involvement you try he
going to invoke the Fifth Amendment no matter what we did perhaps most shocking Sherman failed to call a critical
witness who supported Michael's Alibi that he was Miles Away the night Martha was murdered that was Dennis sorio who
was at the tyon household the night they were all allegedly watching Monty Python's Flying Circus Michael was
allegedly there and Mickey Sherman instead of doing that instead of calling never talk to that witness but in
2013 Santos did was there anybody else at the home the boys were there was Michael skel one of
them Michael was with them he puts Michael skel at that house and has no motive to lie he's not related to
Michael skakel skel's team argued that these missed opportunities would have created
Reasonable Doubt for the jury and the judge agreed 6 month months later he overturned skel's
conviction Wednesday a Connecticut judge granted the 53-year-old a new trial in the 1975 murder of Martha
Moxley after 11 and a half years in prison Michael sko walked out of the courthouse no longer a convicted killer
an innocent man now goes free but not for long in 2016 the Connecticut Supreme Court SE in a sharply divided decision
reinstates his conviction saying the defense was adequate scagel faced with returning to
prison then filed for reconsideration and in 2018 with a new judge on the bench the
Connecticut Supreme Court reversed itself now ruling that scagel is entitled to a new
trial that trial would never happen looking at the evidence your honor looking at the the state of the case is
my belief that uh the state cannot prove this case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt on October 30th
2020 the 45th anniversary of Martha moxley's murder the state of Conneticut announced
it would not retry Michael skel you know Michael's going to walk around the rest of his life with that on his
head no matter whether or not it's been vacated by the court public opinion matters as for his brother Tommy years
later I ended up playing some golf with him a bunch of times I mean did you ever
ask him Point Blank I did I he I didn't do it and it ruined my life this case has been a a long and Winding Road a
very painful case emotionally for many people for Dorothy Moxley time has done little to ease her
loss Martha my baby will never have a life this was devastating to the Moxley family Dorothy to this day remains
convinced Martha was killed by Michael skakel to lose a child is the worst thing in the world
and so after almost half a century of questions and two families shattered All That Remains is one terrible truth as we
sit here today no one has been convicted of Martha moxley's murder no that's true
it's very frustrating it's very upsetting I think it's sad that she's not around to you know live these these
45 years I think she would have done great things I think she would have been a great mother she was always a great
[Music] friend Lasting Impressions of a life ended too soon a life that in Martha's
own words was full of Hope dear diary today is the last day of 74 boohoo 74 has been one of the best
years of my life life well hope 75 is as good [Music]

A 15-year-old girl beaten to death with a golf club in a wealthy Connecticut neighborhood. Does her diary hold clues to the killer? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Martha Moxley's 1975 murder case involves Michael Skakel's conviction and ongoing questions about his guilt and the true killer.

Key points

The Murder of Martha Moxley. In 1975, the brutal murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley shocked a wealthy community in Connecticut.
Michael Skakel's Arrest. After nearly 25 years, Michael Skakel was arrested for Martha's murder, shocking the community.
The Shocking Confession. Michael Skakel allegedly confessed to the murder while at a reform school, raising eyebrows.
The Trial of Michael Skakel. The trial of Michael Skakel became a media circus, with intense scrutiny on his alibi.
Michael Skakel's New Trial. After years of legal battles, Michael Skakel is granted a new trial in the murder case.
The Moxley Family's Pain. Dorothy Moxley shares the enduring pain of losing her daughter, Martha, to murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Oh my God, did they see me last night?

Michael's panic over his actions the night of the murder.

24:52WatchSep 24, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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