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[Music] Yeah you mentioned you grew up in grenage and you were there in 75 the first thing people ask you is did you
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know moreth the [Music] Moxley B Haven Connecticut is a small private Community it has big Estates and
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almost no crime but a 15-year-old girl has been brutally murdered there b Haven this was
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a virtually exclusive very wealthy community in Greenwich Connecticut where murders just don't
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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
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about it my name is Tory Holland I grew up in B Haven and in 1975 I was 15 along
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with Martha she just had this beaming personality and her beautiful blonde hair smiled all
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the time I just smile you know it just made you feel like you were the center of of
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of the world the skakel lived across the street from the Moxley they were a family of all these
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boys except for Julie I went to school with them and Michael was a year behind me and Tommy
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was year ahead of me it was a lovely place to grow up you just felt safe and that all changed after that
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night the instrument used in the Striking of the Moxley girl was a golf club we know
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that it's absolutely devastating nearly a quarter of a century would pass before police would
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make an arrest for the murder of Martha Moxley 39-year-old Michael skel was charged
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with murder Michael did you kill her I was shocked it's like Michael I know Michael's
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[Music] innocent the evidence is much stronger suggesting that other people may have
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committed the crime Bobby Kennedy Jr is Michael's cousin and he never believed for a
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minute Michael skel committed this crime 27 years after the crime Kennedy cousin
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Michael skel convicted in the murder of Martha Moxley Michael skagle spent 11 and a
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half years in prison until his conviction was overturned on appeal an innocent man now goes free but
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if Michael didn't kill Martha Moxley then who did this little girl this cute little
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amazing girl was murdered brutally by somebody and I think it was somebody in that
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neighborhood could Martha's diary hold the clue I believe all through this case there's someone who's been keeping a
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secret [Music] [Music] after she was was murdered everything had changed you have no sense of Peace you
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you've lost it all I think if she had said yes Tor Holland and Richard Burns have waited decades to speak publicly
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about the event that forever marked their lives the death of their friend Martha
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Moxley my backyard sort of melded into her front yard both both Tori and Martha were just 15 years old living in B Haven
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Connecticut Martha's family had moved to the neighborhood a year earlier from California and Martha wasted no time
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becoming the it girl she was not a Wallflower she wanted to meet everybody but everybody in Greenwich you know was
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very kind of reserved Northeastern personalities she was very um an extrovert she was the California girl of
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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
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yeah it was the night before Halloween October 30th 1975 also known as Mischief Night what
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is Mischief Night basically you would throw toilet paper into the trees Harless fun Martha headed across the street to
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hang out with her very wealthy Neighbors The skakel Family the skakel were cousins of the
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kennedies rushan skel's sister Ethel had married Robert Kennedy in 1950 rushan had inherited a fortune from the
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family's mining company they were a very famous family they just had a lot more attitude about you know they could do
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anything Martha was friendly with the seven skel kids spending time mostly with Michael who was also 15 and his
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older brother 17-year-old Tommy on Mischief Night Martha and two other friends met
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Michael at the skel house around 900 p.m. they all piled into a Lincoln like this parked in the driveway Michael and
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Martha are in the front seat of uh the skagle carp reporter Len levit now deceased was
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interviewed in 2003 he spent more than 30 years investigating the night of Martha's death Tommy comes and joins
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them so the three of them are sitting in the front seat Martha's in the middle between Tommy and Michael they're
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listening to music they were in the Lincoln until around 9:30 p.m. when two other skel
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Brothers said they needed the car so they could drive their cousin Jimmy terrion to his house
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to watch the US premiere of Monty Python's Flying Circus Michael told police he left with his brothers and
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cousin while Martha and her friends stayed behind with Tommy what goes on between Martha and Tommy then is sort of
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playful pushing back and forth with sexual overtones at one point uh Tommy pushes Martha down and falls on top of
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her and the friends are so embarrassed that they leave and go home home leaving Martha with
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Tommy Martha never gets home Martha's mother Dorothy spoke with 48 hours in 2000 there's Martha and remembered that
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around 1:00 a.m. the next morning she began calling Martha's friends and alerted the
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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
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hadn't returned home Dorothy walked over to the skle house Michael answered the door I'm Dorothy Moxley and I live
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across the street and I'm looking for my daughter Martha do you know if Martha is
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here no Martha was not there and he looked he didn't look healthy he looked well I actually think he looked hung
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over hours passed it was now almost noon on Halloween Tori was on her way to join the search
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when another friend discovered Martha's body under this tree towards the back of
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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
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further but I could see the devastation with Mrs moxley's Steve Carroll was among the
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first investigators from the Greenwich Police Department to walk up to Martha's body it was a maniacal attack that
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should have stopped but didn't when Carol spoke with 48 hours in 2000 he was still shaken by what he had
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seen we didn't even know what color hair she had because it was all uh blood red
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and all of the blows or damage were all to her [Music] head and then we could see a path that
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she had been dragged down in the High [Music] Grass down to where her final resting
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place which was under the pine tree investigators traced the trail of blood to the Moxley driveway she had been
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bludgeoned right near the driveway because there was a huge pull of blood there they discovered a piece of the
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murder weapon the shaft of a Golf Club former Hartford current reporter and 48 Hours
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consultant Lyn tuy it was a Tony Penna six iron golf club and she was struck so violently that the shaft of the golf
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club shattered and one portion of the shaft was uh driven through her neck just a few hours later while C seen
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the skel property police discovered a matching golf club that came came from the same set as the six iron that was
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used to kill Martha it came from a set owned by an skakel Michaels and Tommy's late mother
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police began taking a hard look at the skakel and they would find what sounded like tantalizing Clues left by Martha
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herself in her diary [Music] [Music] I was still in shock that she was gone but that this had to be a beautiful
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[Music] tribute to her to send her off a few days after Martha's murder on November 4th
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1975 about 500 people gathered for her funeral and while family and friends mourned the teenager investigators were
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learning more about Martha's relationship with Michael and Tommy skakel do you remember either the skakel
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having a crush on Martha well it would be hard not to I know I did Martha's friends told police that
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Tommy wanted to date her but his advances may not have always been welcomed on September 12th Martha wrote
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in her diary di about going for ice cream with Michael and Tommy went driving in Tom's car and I was
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practically sitting on Tom's lap he kept putting his hand on my knee and on October 4th a little over 3 weeks before
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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
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and making moves I did not know she was spending the time that she was spending with
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them I did not hang around with them they scared me a little bit why what you mean well they because they were very
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[Music] rambunctious 2 years earlier the seven skagle siblings lost their mom and to
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cancer their father rushan struggled to parent them on the night of Martha's death he was away on a hunting trip
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their father traveled quite a bit they were allowed to do whatever they'd like they definitely got into a lot of
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trouble there's a lot of partying going on in that house I read that Michael skel had a drinking problem at age 13
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really obvious say that's true and that drinking may have created conflict with Martha in her diary the
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month before her death Martha wrote Michael was so totally out of it that he was being a real he kept telling me that
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I was leading Tom on Michael jumps to conclusions I really have to stop going over
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there Tommy and Michael were both known to have very explosive tempers the two of them were Fierce Rivals for anything
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you know from Sports to affection a girl's attention Martha's possibly it was Daylight when Martha's body was
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found but based on reports of neighborhood dogs barking the night before investigators believed that
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Martha was killed sometime between 9:30 and 10 p.m. around the time she was thought to be at the
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[Music] skakel remember Michael told police at around 9:30 he had left to go to his
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cousin Jimmy aran's home and Martha had stayed behind with Tommy Tommy's story is that he last sees
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her at 930 and he goes inside home to write a paper on Abraham Lincoln the police later find out that no teacher at
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Tommy school ever assigned this [Music] paper levit says police initially considered Tommy a strong suspect but it
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turns out that even if Tommy lied about about writing that paper he had an alibi
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witness Tommy is seen again shortly after 10:00 with Ken Littleton Ken Littleton was a new tutor
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who had just moved into the skel house that very day he told police that Tommy was watching TV with him around 1
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p.m. he noticed nothing unusual about Tommy and that's significant because Martha had been murdered violently how
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does Tommy do this how does Tommy manage to beat her to death move her body clean
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himself up compose himself so that Ken Littleton says of Tommy I notice nothing about him out of the ordinary no arrests
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were made months passed by and with advice from Tommy's lawyer rush and skakel stopped cooperating with police
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he also fired Ken Littleton whose life unraveled shortly after he moved to nant tuet he drank heavily did drugs
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committed crimes of petty Larsen investigators honed in on this skakel tutor speculating that his
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downfall could be rooted in his involvement in Martha's murder but there were problems with that theory he's got
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no motive to kill Martha he never knew Martha the manner in which mortha is killed indicates that it was somebody
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who had a relationship with Marthur authorities found no evidence to prove Littleton was
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involved years went by Martha's murder became a cold case there were no more leads to pursue there was no new
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evidence in 1991 the trial of another Kennedy cousin William Kennedy Smith who was charged
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with rape in Florida but acquitted would open a new chapter in the Moxley case there's an allegation which is false
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that William Kennedy Smith was at the skle house the night of the murder that unfounded rumor and
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persistent press coverage kept the heat on the grenage police department and prompted them to reopen the
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investigation now they announce a reward and a hotline this time in an effort to
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clear his family name rushan skakel hired his own team of invest investigators their findings became
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known as the Sutton report but the effort backfired because that report for the first time pointed a finger at
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another of rusan's sons Michael skakel Michael lied to the police Michael told police that after watching Monty
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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
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he told his dad's investigators another story oh my God if I tell anybody that I
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was out that night they're going to say I did [Music] it for 20 years investigators seem stymy
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in their effort to find Martha's killer but all that changed in 1995 when someone leaked the Sutton
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report to the press it was never supposed to see the light of day the report was an eyeopener Tommy admitted
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to his father's investigators that all those years ago in 1975 he had lied to the police Tommy
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told the Sutton investigators that he did not go into his house at 9:30 he stayed out outside making out with
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Martha for 20 minutes Mutual petting semisexual encounter and suddenly cast himself as being most likely the last
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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
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believe she may have been killed correct but it wasn't just Tommy who changed the
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story was it no Michael also changed his story remember Micha told police that after watching Monty Python at his
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cousins he came back home around 11:30 p.m. and went straight to bed the report was devastating to the skakle family but
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then he described a very different scenario to those private investigators he's feeling horny around
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midnight he's drunk and he goes out and he climbs a tree outside Martha's window
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and he masturbates in the tree in fact in 199 7 michiva made a tape recording of that story while
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working on a book proposal for a tell all autobiography I pulled my pants out I masturbated for 30 seconds in the tree
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and I remember thinking oh my God I hope Scott nobody saw me but I woke up to Mrs
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Moxley saying Michael has have you seen Martha I was like oh my god did they' see me last night
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reports had also begun to circulate that Michael had actually confessed to Martha's
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murder it was said to have happened while he was a student at a lawn a reform school that his father sent him
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to after a drunk driving incident when he was 17 one former Alan student Gregory
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Coleman recounted to a local news reporter what he says Michael told him back then then the first words he ever
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said to me uh was I'm going to get away with murder I'm a Kennedy Coleman says Michael detailed
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what he did to Martha that night he had made advances towards her and she rejected his advances and uh quote
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unquote that he drove uh her skull and with the golf club after hearing from Coleman and
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other former Alan students States Attorney Jonathan Benedict convened an unusual and rarely used oneperson Grand
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Jury to look at all the evidence and all the suspects in the case after 18 months
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and more than 40 Witnesses Mr he have anything to say Michael did you kill her the grand jury indicted Michael
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skakel for murder 24 years after Martha's death Michael was 41 years old when his trial
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began and how big a story was that it was huge the scene outside was circus like Mr skele do you have anything to
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say anything to say Mr SK all the national media was there they had tents they had lights Michael's defense and
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his only defense is that he did not commit this crime Michael sko was being represented by a well-known local
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defense attorney Micky Sherman as charismatic as they come Mickey is no amateur when it comes to television
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what's the motive for Michael skel killing Martha Moxley the only motive really is jealous
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rage over the attention she was showing Tommy [Music] scagel in fact in that same book
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proposal for his autobiography Michael wrote I wanted her to be my girlfriend I think Martha just rebuffed him she
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could have been flirting with Tommy and maybe that made him angry on trial Michael
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skel at trial prosecutor Jonathan Benedict began with discrediting Michael's Alibi that he had gone for
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that ride to his cousin's house around the time of Martha's murder prosecutors called sko family friend Andrea
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Shakespeare who had been at the skakel house that night Andrea Shakespeare is one of the witnesses who was certain
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that Mr skakel never took that alibi ride Benedict put holes in Michael's Alibi but he later said Michael himself
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provided the most damaging evidence the truth of the matter is that Michael skagle couldn't keep his mouth shut for
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a quarter of a century Benedict is referring to all those admissions Michael allegedly made to killing Martha
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like the one to a classmate Gregory Coleman although Coleman had died from a drug overdose before the trial began his
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testimony from an earlier hearing was read to the jury that infuriated Michael's brother Stephen Greg Coleman
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was high on heroin on methodone he was doing 20 to 25 bags of heroin a day it turns out that before trial Coleman
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admitted to Michael's attorney that he was actually high on drugs when he testified before the grand
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jury but the state put on nine other Witnesses who told the jury that Michael implied he had killed
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[Music] Martha Michael how you feeling and then of course there was Michael's own words
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from that tell all book proposal in closing arguments prosecutor Benedict played an edited excerpt for the jurors
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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
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the Lynch pin Michael Michel what do you mean by that driving the nail into the coffin of
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Michael sko in terms of a guilty verdict it took the jury 4 days Michael skakel was convicted for Martha's murder
00:25:26
[Music] his sentence 20 years to life I know Michael skel and I know he didn't commit the crime Robert will you
00:25:40
talk with us a few months after trial Michael sk's cousin Robert Kennedy Jr accused the prosecutor of deliberately
00:25:49
misrepresenting Michael's words in that closing argument his tape recorded words
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were used out of context by the prosecutor to imply that he was confessing to to the crime oh my god did
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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
00:26:13
God don't be correspondent Leslie stall asked Benedict about it in hearing this myself
00:26:22
yeah without the the Preamble about masturbating to anybody is that he's actually talking about murdering her and
00:26:31
and isn't that really taking him out of context no I don't think so I think if I did this
00:26:37
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
00:26:46
looked at it that he was confessing he was saying that he was panicked because he had committed this crime and um and
00:26:54
that was really the segment that everybody agrees ended up convicting Michael skel and Robert Kennedy was determined
00:27:03
to exonerate his cousin 8 months after Michael skakel was sent off to prison Kennedy got a tip he believed would
00:27:12
reveal Martha's real killers [Music] to robertt Kennedy Jr it was the break he had been hoping for Kennedy got a tip
00:27:35
that a former classmate of Michael skakel a man named Tony Bryant was claiming he knew the identity of Martha
00:27:43
moxley's Killers so Kennedy and Michael's attorneys tracked Bryant down in Florida Bryant has made a full
00:27:52
confession of his involvement in that crime well that night this is Tony Bryant in 2003 videotaped by Michael
00:28:02
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
00:28:10
Adolf Hasbrook also known as Al and Burton Tinsley to Bell Haven so do you believe that they killed her there's no
00:28:20
doubt in my mind that they were involved Bryant knew the two teens from New York
00:28:24
and told skel's investigators that Hasbrook had become upset ESS with Martha I mean love their beautiful
00:28:31
blonde hair Brian said that Hasbrook met Martha during previous trips to Bell Haven at a street fair and again at a
00:28:39
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
00:28:45
Tony claims Hasbro complained to him saying I don't understand why she's spending her time with those guys when
00:28:52
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
00:28:59
clubs from the skel backyard he claims that either Hasbrook or Tinsley bragged about wanting to hurt someone I got my
00:29:08
caveman club right and I'm going to go grab somebody and pull them by hair and do what caveman
00:29:15
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
00:29:23
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
00:29:31
never mentioned Martha Moxley by name I knew who they were implying it was it was so obvious because I mean the next
00:29:38
day it was all over I mean it was everywhere armed with Tony Bryant's story in 2005 Michael skakel's attorneys
00:29:50
filed an appeal asking for a new trial you're honor the petition for new trial that we've filed on behalf of Michael
00:29:56
skel claims new newly discovered evidence which involves the allegations concerning Tony
00:30:02
Bryant but at a hearing to present the New Evidence Bryant refused to testify under oath well of course he's not going
00:30:11
to do that because he admits that he brought them murderers to Greenwich because he could be charged with that
00:30:17
crime Kennedy says Brian wouldn't testify without immunity so skel's attorneys played his video statement but
00:30:25
the judge wasn't persuaded and rul against Michael skel Michael skel versus the state of Connecticut has been
00:30:35
concluded despite the judge's ruling almost a decade later in 2016 Robert Kennedy Jr repeated Bryan's
00:30:45
allegations in his book Framed using Martha's diary as evidence Kennedy claims that 3 weeks before her murder
00:30:54
Martha wrote that she saw Tony and two straight ERS at a dance but that's not quite accurate in her entry Martha
00:31:04
doesn't mention Tony and she never uses the word strangers she writes October 4th dear diary tonight was a Sacred
00:31:15
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
00:31:22
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
00:31:32
Dicky the dicky she mentions is actually Richard Burns who says he was with Martha much of that night seen Tony
00:31:41
Bryant do you remember that at all no did you ever meet Al Hasbrook no or Burton Tinsley no don't you think you
00:31:49
would have remembered if she was dancing with someone else who seem possessive of
00:31:53
her she didn't she didn't we danced the whole night Al Hasbrook is innocent Al Hasbrook declined to be interviewed and
00:32:07
we were unable to reach Burton Tinsley but hasook's attorney Larry schach describes the allegations as false and
00:32:17
inflammatory the coin of phrase it's black versus white let's blame somebody else it's the black guy let's blame him
00:32:24
why not let's take the most vulnerable person in our society and accuse him I am as certain as certain can be that
00:32:34
neither had anything to do with this Burton Tinsley and Al Hasbrook don't deny that they have been to Bell Haven
00:32:41
on several occasions but shach says there's no evidence that either one was in Bell Haven the night Martha was
00:32:49
bludgeon to death nobody saw Al hasb nobody they would have seen a young guy a black man in a very very white
00:32:58
community and a big guy but nobody saw him because he wasn't there somebody would have seen a strangers and
00:33:06
recognize that they were strangers nobody he did and I just thought that was kind of a cheap shot
00:33:13
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
00:33:18
find a scapegoat what's more hasook's attorney is baffled as to why anyone would
00:33:25
believe Tony Bryant Briant has a criminal history that includes a 1993 conviction for armed robbery in
00:33:34
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
00:33:43
tax evasion how are you feeling still shinbach says Kennedy irresponsibly perpetuates Brian's allegations with no
00:33:53
facts and no evidence he continues to to put forth this lie as a way of trying to
00:34:00
clear his cousin and I guess by extension the Kennedy name in November 2020 Kennedy insisted
00:34:09
to us that Tony Bryant has no reason whatsoever to lie about Al Hasbrook and Burton Tinsley when we pressed him about
00:34:18
it he got up from the interview chair do you have any regrets of pointing the finger at two people who've never been
00:34:25
suspects there's no physical evidence to tie them to the crime the is there's lots of evidence that ties them to the
00:34:33
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
00:34:42
that changed everything for Michael sko [Music] [Music] Michael skel did not give up on April
00:35:02
16th 2013 skakel was back in court I do with his attorney Hubert Santos and a new
00:35:11
argument that that media Savvy defense attorney Mickey Sherman Mickey Mickey hired to defend Michael at his 2002
00:35:20
trial he was advised of his rights St had boted the case Mickey had me believing he was the
00:35:29
real deal he accused his former lawyer of being too chummy with the Press he said he was a media [ __ ] uh everything
00:35:36
about this trial is unique you spent most of your time talking to the media right is that a question yeah no and sko
00:35:45
claimed that Sherman failed to focus on a more viable suspect in moxley's murder
00:35:51
Michael's own brother Tommy you knew that Tommy skakel was the last person to see Martha Moxley alive I
00:36:00
believe so Sherman never presented evidence of Tommy's Infamous temper did you know
00:36:08
that he strangled a fellow classmate right in front of his teacher I don't recall that Sherman also failed to
00:36:15
convince the judge to allow Tommy to testify which could have raised doubts about Michael's involvement you try he
00:36:23
going to invoke the Fifth Amendment no matter what we did perhaps most shocking Sherman failed to call a critical
00:36:30
witness who supported Michael's Alibi that he was Miles Away the night Martha was murdered that was Dennis sorio who
00:36:38
was at the tyon household the night they were all allegedly watching Monty Python's Flying Circus Michael was
00:36:47
allegedly there and Mickey Sherman instead of doing that instead of calling never talk to that witness but in
00:36:55
2013 Santos did was there anybody else at the home the boys were there was Michael skel one of
00:37:02
them Michael was with them he puts Michael skel at that house and has no motive to lie he's not related to
00:37:11
Michael skakel skel's team argued that these missed opportunities would have created
00:37:18
Reasonable Doubt for the jury and the judge agreed 6 month months later he overturned skel's
00:37:32
conviction Wednesday a Connecticut judge granted the 53-year-old a new trial in the 1975 murder of Martha
00:37:40
Moxley after 11 and a half years in prison Michael sko walked out of the courthouse no longer a convicted killer
00:37:49
an innocent man now goes free but not for long in 2016 the Connecticut Supreme Court SE in a sharply divided decision
00:37:59
reinstates his conviction saying the defense was adequate scagel faced with returning to
00:38:07
prison then filed for reconsideration and in 2018 with a new judge on the bench the
00:38:16
Connecticut Supreme Court reversed itself now ruling that scagel is entitled to a new
00:38:25
trial that trial would never happen looking at the evidence your honor looking at the the state of the case is
00:38:33
my belief that uh the state cannot prove this case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt on October 30th
00:38:44
2020 the 45th anniversary of Martha moxley's murder the state of Conneticut announced
00:38:52
it would not retry Michael skel you know Michael's going to walk around the rest of his life with that on his
00:39:01
head no matter whether or not it's been vacated by the court public opinion matters as for his brother Tommy years
00:39:09
later I ended up playing some golf with him a bunch of times I mean did you ever
00:39:12
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
00:39:21
very painful case emotionally for many people for Dorothy Moxley time has done little to ease her
00:39:31
loss Martha my baby will never have a life this was devastating to the Moxley family Dorothy to this day remains
00:39:45
convinced Martha was killed by Michael skakel to lose a child is the worst thing in the world
00:39:58
and so after almost half a century of questions and two families shattered All That Remains is one terrible truth as we
00:40:09
sit here today no one has been convicted of Martha moxley's murder no that's true
00:40:18
it's very frustrating it's very upsetting I think it's sad that she's not around to you know live these these
00:40:27
45 years I think she would have done great things I think she would have been a great mother she was always a great
00:40:35
[Music] friend Lasting Impressions of a life ended too soon a life that in Martha's
00:40:44
own words was full of Hope dear diary today is the last day of 74 boohoo 74 has been one of the best
00:40:56
years of my life life well hope 75 is as good [Music]