Killing of Martha Moxley

Martha Elizabeth Moxley, a 15-year-old high school student, was killed on the night of October 30, 1975, in the affluent Belle Haven neighborhood of Greenwich, Connecticut. She had spent the evening participating in "mischief night" activities with neighborhood friends, including Thomas Skakel, and was last seen with him near the pool of the Skakel family home, located across the street from her own. The next day, her body was discovered beneath a tree in her family's backyard. Her pants and underwear had been pulled down, though no evidence of sexual assault was found. An autopsy determined she had been both bludgeoned and stabbed with a six-iron golf club, fragments of which were traced back to a set owned by the Skakel household.

Thomas Skakel, the last person known to have been with Moxley, became an initial suspect, but his father restricted investigators' access to his school and mental health records. Kenneth Littleton, who had begun working as a live-in tutor for the Skakel family hours before the murder, was also considered a suspect. No charges were filed for decades, and the case went cold. During this period, both Thomas and Michael Skakel gave differing accounts of their whereabouts that night. Michael Skakel eventually stated he had been outside near the Moxley property, in a tree, between roughly 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m.

Interest in the case was renewed in the early 1990s, spurred in part by an unfounded rumor connected to an unrelated 1991 trial. A private investigative firm hired by the Skakel family conducted its own review, and journalists and authors — including former detective Mark Fuhrman — later examined the case and named Michael Skakel as the person responsible for the killing. Two former students at Élan School, a youth treatment facility, testified that they had heard Michael Skakel admit to the killing.

In 2000, following a lengthy grand jury investigation, Michael Skakel was arrested and charged with Moxley's murder. He was tried as an adult, and on June 7, 2002, a jury found him guilty; he was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Skakel pursued appeals over the following decade, arguing issues including inadequate representation by his trial attorney, Michael Sherman. In 2013, a Connecticut judge granted him a new trial on ineffective-assistance grounds, and Skakel was released on bail. In 2016, the Connecticut Supreme Court reinstated his conviction by a 4–3 vote. In 2018, the same court reversed course, vacating the conviction and ordering a new trial, finding that his trial counsel had failed to contact an alibi witness.

On October 30, 2020, the 45th anniversary of Moxley's death, Connecticut's chief state's attorney informed the court that the state would not retry Michael Skakel, stating that prosecutors would not be able to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The case has since remained without a conviction.