NBC News Studios Presents Dead Certain: The Martha Moxley Murder
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What is the introduction to the Martha Moxley case?
Hello, Date Nine listeners. I'm Keith Morrison, and I'd like to introduce you to a brand new 12-part original podcast series called Dead Certain, The Martha Moxley Murder, produced by NBC News Studios. It's a story of privilege and secrets of a night that's haunted a town for half a century. Whispers that turn to accusations. Lies unraveled. And just when you think you know the ending, another twist. Here's a special preview of the first episode.
What do you know? It's kind of an old-fashioned expression. My dad often used it to express mild surprise. Oh, look, there's a for sale sign on the neighbor's house. What do you know? Neil Diamond's coming to the Civic Center. What do you know? But before we begin this story, I want you to treat it as a serious question.
What happened to Martha Moxley in 1975?
What do you know? I mean, really know. Is it possible that what you say you know is actually an opinion, something you just think? And if you think something, what various forces worked on you to make you think that way? And were those forces so effective in making you think something that somewhere along the way you started believing that you didn't just think it, you knew it? In 1975, a 15-year-old girl named Martha Moxley was murdered in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was rich and beautiful and loved by all who knew her. For decades, despite intense media scrutiny on the tragic murder in a wealthy, supposedly safe community, police failed to make an arrest. Until the year 2000, when they took Martha's one-time neighbor, Michael Skakel, into custody.
He was 39 years old. Back in 1975, he'd been 15, just like Martha. He was wealthy, like her. He was also a cousin of the Kennedys. The media responded in predictable fashion.
Kennedy nephew Michael Skakel, now 39, charged with murdering his Greenwich, Connecticut neighbor Martha Moxley.
Who is Michael Skakel and what is his connection to the case?
And a nephew of the late Robert Kennedy.
A teenage neighbor and friend of Martha Moxley related to the Kennedy clan. The Kennedy name has lent this case tremendous notoriety.
I'm like a lot of people. I have an appetite for lurid news, a good murder story, especially one involving famous names. I watched the news. I read the articles. Of course, Michael Skakel killed his next door neighbor, Martha Moxley. He beat her to death with a golf club on October 30th, 1975, when they were both 15. I knew it. And if you followed the case like I did... I bet you knew it, too. In 2002, a jury convicted Skakel, and the judge threw the book at him.
It was nearly the maximum sentence possible, 20 years to life for Kennedy nephew Michael Skakel, convicted of killing his Greenwich, Connecticut neighbor Martha Moxley back in 1975.
And then, in 2013, a judge released Michael Skakel on appeal after he'd served 11 1⁄2 years in state prison.
How did the media portray the Moxley murder case?
For the media, it was anything but an exoneration, but rather the kind of clever legal maneuver only accessible to the super wealthy, free on a technicality. A famous New Yorker writer, Jeffrey Toobin, when tweeting about the case, appended the hashtag, Rich People Justice. I live in Westport, Connecticut, with my wife and two teenage boys. It's just a handful of exits north of Greenwich on I-95. A few summers ago, my then 15-year-old son Henry was doing an odd job for a woman in town, helping to clean out her garage. Henry said he told her that I was a journalist, researching the Martha Moxley case. When she heard that, she immediately stopped what she was doing and said, I know exactly what happened to Martha Moxley.
Michael Skakel murdered her. She knew just like I knew. And a lot of people who had important roles in the outcome of this case knew too. Now I want to ask you a follow-up. Says who? My name is Andrew Goldman. I've been a journalist for 30 years. I got involved in this case in 2015 when current Secretary of Health and Human Services Bobby Kennedy Jr.
What challenges did investigators face in solving the case?
reached out asking if I was interested in ghostwriting his book about it. He wanted me to help exonerate his cousin. It was a great offer, except unlike Bobby, I didn't believe Michael Skakel was innocent. At that particular moment, I really needed the work.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the introduction to the Martha Moxley case?
0:03–1:01
2
What happened to Martha Moxley in 1975?
1:01–2:17
3
Who is Michael Skakel and what is his connection to the case?
2:17–3:16
4
How did the media portray the Moxley murder case?
3:16–4:42
5
What challenges did investigators face in solving the case?
4:42–5:50
6
How did Michael Skakel's trial unfold?
5:50–6:51
7
What were the implications of Skakel's conviction and subsequent appeal?
6:51–8:51
8
What can listeners expect from the full series on the Moxley case?
8:51–18:35
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Dateline NBC
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