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On Friday morning, June 7th, 2002, Michael Skakel was found guilty of the brutal beating and murder of his neighbor, Martha Moxley. ... With little physical evidence, no DNA evidence, a completely slipshod investigation and a small collection of other potential suspects, Michael was found guilty and later sentenced to a term of incarceration of twenty years to life. ...
On October 31st, 1975, around 12:15pm, a neighborhood friend of Martha’s, Sheila McGuire, found the body of Martha Moxley under a pine tree. ... According to police reports and the book Murder in Greenwich, the police followed almost none of these prescribed methods of investigation. To be fair, the town had only seen one murder in the years prior and not a single responding officer had ever partaken in a murder investigation, but it is very possible that the poor quality of the resulting investigation is what keeps the true identity of Martha’s killer from being known beyond a true mark of a reasonable doubt.
When the first responding officers, Dan Hickman and Millard Jones, arrived on the scene they first acted by checking the body of young Martha. ... Rather than immediately documenting the area, the details of the scene were only written down in police reports in the days following the investigation and often contradict the stories given to Mark Fuhrman in interviews later with the two responding officers. ... It was not until several days after the opening investigation day that one was put together from the memory of those involved. ... Here, the family doctor for the Moxley’s was called initially, in order to confirm the death of Martha, rather than the official state’s medical examiner. Even though it was obvious that Martha Moxley was dead, Dr. ...
In the course of that day the body of Martha Moxley was touched or moved at least three times. ... This can have a huge impact on an investigation, as it makes trimming down a pool of possible suspects very difficult. ... Knowing the time period in which a crime occurred also allows for an estimation of how far away the perpetrator could have traveled in the time that had elapsed since the murder. ... It appears from most documents that photographs were not taken of the body simply as a sign of respect to the family, but this excuse is never valid in a homicide investigation.
The Search For Evidence
The search for evidence is one of the most crucial steps in the solving of any investigation. ... Meanwhile, the body of Martha Moxley was left wrapped up in only a sheet, almost unguarded and being swarmed by onlookers and news media (Fuhrman 69). ... In that time they searched for evidence and finally allowed the body of fifteen-year old Martha Moxley to be taken away. In that time they did however retrieve two new pieces of evidence from the body of Martha. ...
The investigation would later show that the attack started closer to the roadway. ...
During this obviously critical investigation, the police failed in even the most basic crime scene procedures by not securing the crime scene. ...
In the days, months and years that followed the murder of Martha Moxley, investigators used the missing handle of the golf club as a huge crutch in their explanation as to why the case had not been solved yet. ... Upon the arrival of the responding officers, both noticed a golf club shaft sticking through the neck portion of Martha Moxley, although neither knew what it was at that time. ...
Interviews, Search Warrants and Investigations
During the full length of this criminal investigation, many people would become prime suspects in the murder of Martha Moxley. For each investigation into a suspect, it was as if the police had on blinders and were unable to see the big picture. ...
During the course of the investigation many houses and properties were searched. An odd fact though is that of all the properties they searched; only a few search warrants were ever served during the entire investigation. ... It was on the first of these searches that on the way out an investigator noticed golf clubs that were of the same rare make as those thought to have killed Martha. ... Now, while the golf club that was used in the murder was stored in a golf bag in or near the kitchen, the golf clubs being used in the side yard was extremely common (Geringer 13). ... The police also spent weeks searching through the trash of the Skakel’s in hopes of finding a hair from Martha on clothing belonging to them. Yet what good does hair evidence have when it comes from clothes that cannot be tied to a crime and comes from someone who played not only every day with Martha, but sat next to her in the car that same evening. ... This pressure was put back on Michael in part, due to a private investigation ordered by his father.
Approximate Word count = 4103
Approximate Pages = 16.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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