Week 6+7 case study

THE CRIME

october 30th 1975

October 30, 1975: In the town of Greenwich, Connecticut, the night before Halloween was commonly known as "mischief night" or sometimes "doorbell night". On this particular evening, 15-year-old Martha Moxley, and her friends, set out for an night of harmless pranks; spraying shaving cream, throwing eggs and toilet paper around the neighborhood before stopping at the home of Tommy and Michael Skakel.

more on the skakel brothers

The Skakel brothers were well know in the neighborhood for their behavior and lack of discipline -- and also because they were the nephews of Ethel Skakel-Kennedy, widow of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

back to the crime

The Moxley's and Skakel's lived in Belle Haven, a gated community in Greenwich, an affluent area of town where Hollywood actors live and former President George Bush grew up. Sometime between 9:30 and 11 p.m. that night, Martha left the Skakel house. Home was only 150 yards away, but Martha never made it. Martha's body was found the next day under a tree in her back yard. Her jeans and underwear had been pulled down, but there was no apparent evidence of sexual assault. She had been beaten so hard with a 6-iron that the shaft had shattered. A jagged piece of it was used to stab her through the neck. Police later learned that the club was part an expensive, Toney Penna, set which had belonged to Tommy and Michael Skakel's mother Anne.

Mrs. Skakel had died of cancer two years earlier leaving her husband Rushton to raise their large and reportedly unruly family. Their son, Tommy, then 17, was said to be the last person seen with Martha. According to Martha's diary, she had fended off several past attempts by Skakel to "get to first and second base," said Martha's mother, Dorthy Moxley. The day Martha's battered body was found, Greenwich police did a cursory search of the house with Rushton Skakel's permission, but they never obtained a warrant to do a thorough search. This lack of a warrant in the investigation led to accusations of "special treatment" for the well-connected, influential family.

OK

so far we have a 15 year old girl who was murdered and found the next day in the back garden dead under a tree.the last person in contact with her was a skavel boy who is a bad person and may have a reason to kill her and they have been brought up on death when their mother died.

what the csi done to help

they examined a crime scene and discovered a shattered 6-iron, the one that was used in the murder, they used fingerprinting to see if there was any fingerprints. one partial print was found and it belonged to... the skavel brother who was her boyfriend.

they brought the brother into questioning and he was cleared of murder as the 6-iron was supposedly stolen a few days before the murder

NO MORE EVIDENCE WAS FOUND

BUT

many years later... well january 2007 michael skavel, the brother who went out with martha moxley, was charged guilty due to contradictions in his timeline and the murder weapon with his fingerprints.

this is my case study for science