True Crime Stories

This blog may be especially long because it actually contains two unrelated crimes. The only connection is that the two victims of these violent crimes were brothers. In fact, one of the crimes was committed in Hong Kong while the other in the United States some three years later. This is the story about Robert and Andrew Kissel. Robert was an investment banker who worked for such businesses as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Andrew was a real estate developer with a bit of a shady past and future at the time of his death. But lets start with Robert as his murder occurred first. Robert had married his wife Nancy in 1989. By the time of his death in 2003 the couple had three children and were living in Hong Kong. They had moved there in 1997 (or 1998 depending on what information you read) while he was working at Goldman Sachs. He would later change employment to Merrill Lynch. He was considered to be a workaholic who was devoted to his work. There would be disputes late...

Normally I would simply add this update to the existing blog that I created in January of 2013 as I have done in the past.  However, I am unsure why but I have attempted three different times to do so and failed. At the time of my original blog there seemed to be little to no doubt that Michael Skakel would remain in prison and serve his time.  However, that changed on October 23, 2013 when a Connecticut judge ruled in Skakel's favor saying that he had received ineffective counsel, among other things, during his 2002 trial in the murder of Martha Moxley in 1975. One of the main reasons held was that his original defense apparently failed to inform the jury that Michael's brother, Thomas, had also been considered a viable suspect in the case and was the last person seen with her before her murder.  His conviction was overturned. On November 21, 2013 Michael Skakel was released on bond while the wheels of justice... running much slower than usual it seems... began to tu...

On October 31, 1975 in the elite neighborhood of Belle Haven in Greenwich Connecticut the body of 15 year old Martha Moxley was found beaten under a tree in her own yard.  In 2002 the suspect was finally charged, convicted and sentenced to jail.  This case made headlines not just because it was such an old cold case but because the suspect was related to one of America's most prominent families. The Moxley family that included father, David, mother, Dorothy, and children John and Martha had moved to Belle Haven less than a year prior to Martha being killed.  David had transferred there from California when he became a senior partner in an accounting firm.  Just around the corner from their new home lived Rushton Skakel and his seven children (six boys and one girl) who were between the ages of 9 and 19.  Anne Reynolds Skakel had died in 1973 from brain cancer.  The Skakel's were notorious in their neighborhood partly because Rushton was rarely around so t...