GREENWICH, CT — The tutor whose life was turned upside down after the 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Connecticut, has revealed disturbing new details about his former pupil Michael Skakel.
Kenneth Littleton was 23 when he was hired to tutor 15-year-old Michael, his 17-year-old brother Tommy, and their four siblings at their mansion in the tony neighborhood of Belle Haven. According to Littleton, who tells his story in a episode of Investigation Discovery’s Guilty Rich, Michael was already a hard-drinking, entitled teen with a mean streak.
Related: Crime History: A Look Back At The Still Unsolved Murder Of Martha Moxley
October 30, 1975 — the night of Moxley’s murder — was Littleton’s first night on the job. Earlier that day, Rushton Skakel, who was Robert Kennedy, Sr.’s, brother-in-law, had offered him the $400 per month position on the spot. At first, Littleton said, it seemed like a dream job.
But later that night, 15-year-old Martha Moxley was beaten to death with a golf club. Her body was found hours later in a clump of pine trees, less than 200 yards from her front door.
After the murder, Littleton said he became increasingly convinced that Michael was the killer. Littleton recounted a disturbing incident that took place, he said, just a few weeks after the murder when he found a dead chipmunk on the grounds of Belle Haven Country Club that had been “mashed” with a golf club and “crucified.”
Related: Will Kennedy Cousin’s Conviction Be Reinstated In 1975 Golf-Club Murder Of Teen?
When he confronted Michael about the dead animal, asking if he had killed it, he said the teen replied by saying, “Who else could have done it, Kenny?”
“I knew he had committed the murder, in my heart,” Littleton told the New York Post.
![Michael Skakel reacts during a parole hearing at McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Conn., Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. [AP Photo/Jessica Hill, Pool]](http://crimefeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/AP_952831655797-1024x689.jpg)
Michael Skakel reacts during a parole hearing at McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Conn., Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. [AP Photo/Jessica Hill, Pool]
After the gruesome discovery, Littleton was almost immediately singled out as a suspect in the case. He said that his life was made a living hell by the accusations — and that he was no match for the blue blood East Coast family and its stable of high-priced lawyers.
Over the years, Littleton has battled many demons, including alcoholism and mental illness. He told the New York Post that he considers himself another victim of the case.
Related: Judge Reinstates Michael Skakel’s Murder Conviction In 1975 Killing Of Martha Moxley
Littleton claims that he first heard the name Martha Moxley the morning after the murder, when members of her family came by to ask if anyone had seen her.
Both Michael and Tommy were questioned by police, and then released. Rushton later barred detectives from accessing Michael’s school and mental-health records.
Littleton was fired from his tutoring job. Months later, he went on a drug binge and was charged in Nantucket with stealing $4,000 worth of goods after breaking into a gift shop and a boat.
The Connecticut police brought him in for questioning in 1976. After that, he lost his new job at an elite school in New Canaan. His drinking began to spiral out of control, and then he stopped teaching and bounced from one part-time job to another.
He spent time at a psychiatric hospital and attempted suicide. He had become paranoid that that the Kennedy family was out to get him, and that they were trying to kill him with tainted drugs.
In the early nineties, police once again targeted Littleton — this time by having his ex-wife wear a wire. It failed; he did not confess. He then agreed to be questioned by police without a lawyer present — and failed two lie-detector tests.
Still, Littleton has always denied any involvement in Moxley’s murder. In 1998, Littleton was granted immunity, and his testimony about Skakel was recorded. Finally, police could arrest Michael.
In 2002, Michael was convicted of Moxley’s murder, and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. But in 2013, a judge granted him a new trial after evidence surfaced that Skakel’s lawyer may not have adequately defended him in 2002. He was released from prison in 2016.
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In December 2016, the Connecticut Supreme Court reinstated Skakel’s murder conviction. Skakel, now 56, remains free while his lawyers work on his case, and lives with relatives in Bedford, New York.
To learn more about this case, watch the “In the Shadow of Privilege” episode of Investigation Discovery’s Guilty Rich on ID GO now!
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Main photo: Martha Moxley [Wikimedia Commons]
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