Case overview
On October 30, 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley was found bludgeoned to death beneath a tree in her family’s yard in Belle Haven, Greenwich, Connecticut. The murder weapon, a Toney Putter golf club, was traced to the neighboring Skakel family, but no arrest was made for more than two decades. In 2002, Michael Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, was convicted of the murder, setting off years of legal battles that continue to shape the case’s legacy.
The last recorded movements
Martha Moxley left her home on Walsh Lane around 9:00 p.m. on October 30, 1975, the night before Halloween. She had been with friends earlier that evening, including members of the Skakel family who lived next door. She was last seen near the Skakel residence. Her curfew was 9:30 p.m. When she did not return home, her mother, Dorthy Moxley, reported her missing the following morning.
Martha’s body was discovered around noon on October 31, 1975, hidden under a pine tree in the Moxley backyard, roughly 100 yards from her home. She had been beaten with a blunt object and stabbed in the neck with the broken shaft of a golf club. The club’s handle, found near the body, bore the manufacturer’s label for Toney Putter, a set owned by the Skakel family. Medical examiners determined she had been killed the night she disappeared.
Investigative focus and early suspects
Greenwich police initially questioned Thomas Skakel, who was 17 at the time and had admitted to being with Martha on the night of her death. He told investigators he had kissed her and engaged in what he described as mutual touching before she left to go home. No physical evidence directly linked him to the crime scene, and he was never charged.
Attention later shifted to his older brother, Michael Skakel, who was 15 at the time of the murder. Michael had initially told police he was at his cousin’s house in another part of Greenwich the night Martha was killed. Investigators noted inconsistencies in his timeline and found no corroborating witnesses for certain portions of the evening. The case remained open but largely dormant for years as the Skakel family retained legal representation and limited their cooperation with authorities.
Renewed investigation and key evidence
In the early 1990s, renewed media attention and advocacy by Dorthy Moxley pressured authorities to reopen the case. In 1991, William Kennedy Smith, another Kennedy family member, was tried and acquitted in a separate sexual assault case. Media scrutiny of the Kennedy family’s legal troubles brought the murder of Martha Moxley back into public view. Investigators began reexamining old evidence and interviewing new witnesses.
A major break came from testimony provided by former classmates of Michael Skakel who had attended the Élan School, a now-defunct residential program for troubled teens in Maine. Multiple witnesses recalled Michael making incriminating statements during group therapy sessions in the late 1970s. Gregory Coleman, a former classmate, testified that Michael had said, “I’m going to get away with murder. I’m a Kennedy.” Another witness, John Higgins, said Michael had confessed to being present near the Moxley home on the night of the killing and described a blackout during which he could not account for his actions.
Investigators also obtained a 1997 taped interview in which Michael Skakel described climbing a tree outside Martha’s window around the time of the murder, a claim he had not previously disclosed. He maintained he had no memory of harming her but acknowledged being in the vicinity when the crime occurred.
Arrest, trial, and conviction
On January 19, 2000, Michael Skakel was arrested and charged with the murder of Martha Moxley. He was 39 years old at the time. His trial began in May 2002 in Norwalk, Connecticut. The prosecution built its case on circumstantial evidence, inconsistent statements, and testimony from witnesses who recalled Michael’s alleged confessions at the Élan School. Prosecutors argued that Michael had become enraged after Martha rebuffed his advances and killed her in a fit of jealousy and anger.
The defense argued that the state’s case relied on unreliable witnesses with questionable motives and that the investigation had been compromised by delayed forensic work and a lack of physical evidence tying Michael to the crime. Defense attorneys also suggested that Thomas Skakel remained a plausible suspect and that the state had failed to rule him out definitively.
On June 7, 2002, a jury found Michael Skakel guilty of murder. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. The conviction was widely covered due to the Skakel family’s connection to the Kennedy political dynasty and the decades-long delay between the crime and the trial.
Appeals and legal reversals
Michael Skakel’s legal team filed multiple appeals, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel and insufficient evidence to support the conviction. In 2013, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Thomas Bishop vacated the conviction, ruling that Skakel’s trial attorney, Michael Sherman, had failed to provide adequate representation. Judge Bishop specifically cited Sherman’s failure to contact an alibi witness who could corroborate Michael’s whereabouts on the night of the murder.
Prosecutors appealed, and in 2016, the Connecticut Supreme Court reinstated the conviction by a 4-3 vote, finding that Sherman’s representation, while flawed, did not meet the legal standard for ineffectiveness. In 2018, the same court reversed its earlier ruling and again overturned the conviction, this time concluding that the state had violated Michael Skakel’s rights by relying on testimony that did not meet standards for reliability.
In 2020, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the state could not retry Skakel, citing insufficient evidence and the passage of time. Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo announced that the state would not pursue further prosecution, effectively closing the criminal case against Michael Skakel. As of 2025, no other person has been charged in connection with the murder of Martha Moxley.
Disputed evidence and unresolved questions
The murder of Martha Moxley remains controversial due to conflicting witness accounts, the handling of early evidence, and the legal reversals that followed Michael Skakel’s conviction. Critics of the investigation argue that the case was compromised from the outset by delayed forensic analysis and the influence of the Skakel family’s wealth and political connections. Supporters of the conviction argue that Michael Skakel’s own statements and the testimony of multiple witnesses provided sufficient basis for a guilty verdict.
The golf club used in the murder was conclusively linked to the Skakel household, but no fingerprints or DNA evidence tied any individual to the weapon. The state’s case rested largely on witness testimony describing Michael’s alleged confessions, statements made years after the crime and in settings where memory and credibility were challenged by the defense.
Dorthy Moxley, Martha’s mother, has consistently maintained that she believes Michael Skakel is responsible for her daughter’s death. She has criticized the legal system’s handling of the case and expressed frustration with the reversal of the conviction. As of the most recent public statements, she continues to advocate for accountability in her daughter’s murder.
Where to look next
- Documentary: “Murder and Justice: The Case of Martha Moxley” (Investigation Discovery)
- Book: “Murder in Greenwich” by Mark Fuhrman
- Book: “A Season in Purgatory” by Dominick Dunne
