On the night of October 30, 1975, the quiet streets of Belle Haven, a gated community in Greenwich, Connecticut, were alive with mischief. It was Mischief Night, a local tradition when kids played harmless pranks—egging houses, draping trees in toilet paper, ringing doorbells, and dashing away into the night. For 15-year-old Martha Moxley, it was supposed to be just that—innocent fun. Although she had been grounded for missing curfew the previous weekend, her mother, Dorthy, relented, allowing her to join her friends for the evening. After all, the next day was a school holiday, and Martha, a bright and friendly girl who had quickly found her place in the Belle Haven social scene, was trusted.
Martha had only been living in Belle Haven for just over a year. Her father, David Moxley, had moved the family east from California when he accepted a position in New York. The Moxleys were close-knit—Martha was the youngest, with her older brother, John, away at college. Martha adapted well to her new life, making friends easily and engaging in school activities like field hockey, ballet, piano lessons, and the usual teenage social life.
That evening, Martha met her friends Helen Ix and Jeffrey Byrne around 6:30 PM. They wandered through the neighborhood, eventually heading to the Skakel house, just across the street from the Moxleys’ home. The Skakels were well-known, not just for their wealth but for their connection to the Kennedys. Rushton Skakel, the family patriarch and head of the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, had children who exuded privilege. Their aunt, Ethel Skakel, was married to Robert F. Kennedy, reinforcing the family’s sense of invincibility. However, the household was troubled. The Skakel matriarch had died of cancer two years earlier, leaving a household full of children and an often-absent father struggling with alcoholism. Michael Skakel, 15, was Martha’s age, while his older brother, Tommy, was 17. Both boys had shown interest in Martha, with Tommy being more overt, much to Michael’s irritation.
As the night progressed, the group of teenagers drifted in and out of the Skakel house. By 9 PM, they were sitting in one of the Skakels’ cars, listening to music. Tommy, in his usual flirtatious manner, teased Martha on the lawn. Around 9:30 PM, the group began to disperse. Martha’s friends, Helen and Jeffrey, left, leaving her and Tommy alone. Witnesses later recalled seeing Tommy and Martha in a playful exchange on the lawn, with Tommy pushing her down and falling on top of her in what appeared to be harmless fun. But by 9:45 PM, the night took a dark turn.
Martha did not return home by her 9:30 curfew. Dorthy, busy with household chores, grew worried as the minutes passed. Though she heard noises outside, she saw nothing unusual and assumed it was just kids continuing their Mischief Night antics. By midnight, when Martha still hadn’t come home, Dorthy’s concern turned to panic. She called Martha’s friends, but none had seen her. By 3:45 AM, she called the police.
The Body in the Pines
When Dorthy Moxley made that early morning call to the Greenwich Police Department, it was treated as routine: a teenage girl out late on Mischief Night. The officers performed a cursory search around the Moxley property but found nothing, reassuring Dorthy that Martha would likely turn up soon. But Dorthy knew better—Martha was a responsible daughter who wouldn’t disappear without a word.
By mid-morning, Dorthy’s fears escalated. She went to the Skakel home, where she found 15-year-old Michael looking disheveled and hungover. He claimed he hadn’t seen Martha since the night before but helped Dorthy search an RV on the property, a common hangout for neighborhood kids. They found no trace of Martha. By noon, dread had settled over Belle Haven.
At 12:30 PM, Martha’s friend Sheila, helping with the search, spotted her lifeless body beneath a large pine tree in the Moxley yard. Martha was face down, her pants pulled down around her knees, and her head had been savagely bashed. Sheila’s screams alerted everyone nearby. Martha had been brutally killed.
When police arrived, the scene was chaotic. Martha had been struck so many times with a golf club that the shaft had broken in two, with the head found nearby, stained with blood. The grip was missing. Martha had been dragged from the driveway to the pine tree, leaving a trail of blood. Though her pants had been pulled down, there were no signs of sexual assault. The attack was violent and personal.
The murder weapon, a Tony Penna 6-iron, was traced to the Skakel family. Police discovered a set of clubs in their garage with one club missing—the 6-iron. The clubs were labeled with the name of Anne Skakel, the late matriarch. The evidence pointed to someone close, likely from within Belle Haven itself.
Suspicion quickly fell on Tommy Skakel, the last known person to see Martha. Initially, Tommy told police he parted ways with Martha around 9:30 PM as she walked home. He claimed he then worked on a school paper about Abraham Lincoln and later watched The French Connection with the family’s tutor, Kenneth Littleton. But his story began to unravel when teachers confirmed no such assignment had been given.
Despite inconsistencies, the Skakels’ wealth and connections shielded Tommy. Days after Martha’s funeral, police were still piecing together evidence, but Greenwich buzzed with rumors. The community was split: some believed the Skakels’ power would protect them, while others could not fathom such a crime among their own.
Tommy was given a polygraph test, failing the first and passing the second. The police were frustrated; without the missing piece of the club, they had no definitive proof. By late 1976, the investigation had stalled. The Skakels stopped cooperating, and the case went cold. Yet many in the community, including the Moxleys, believed the killer was still among them.
Will It Ever Be Solved?
Over the years, the case remained cold, but suspicion never lifted. Tommy’s alibi was questionable, and Michael’s behavior grew more disturbing. He made bizarre confessions, including one in which he claimed to have killed someone, and exhibited increasingly erratic behavior, with suicide attempts and bursts of anger. Those who knew him began to suspect he, not Tommy, might have been the killer.
In 2000, following new attention and a private investigation commissioned by the Skakel family, Michael was arrested for Martha’s murder. His trial in 2002 included shocking testimony, with Michael admitting he had been near the scene that night, climbing a tree outside Martha’s window. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years to life.
But the case did not end there. In 2013, an appeal succeeded on the grounds of ineffective legal counsel, overturning his conviction. In 2020, prosecutors decided not to retry him. Michael Skakel walked free, leaving the Moxley family—and the world—still haunted by the question: Who killed Martha?
Decades later, the tragedy endures, not just as the loss of a vibrant young girl, but as a stark reminder of a community unable to face the darkness behind its gilded gates.
Deep Lore 