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Suspect:
Ken Littleton
Ken Littleton was a 23 year old, Williams College graduate at the time of Martha's murder. He had secured a respectable position on staff at the Brunswick School, a private institution in which some of the Skakel boys attended. Ken was well liked by the students and held in high regard by both the headmaster and faculty at Brunswick. More likely than not, it is one of the reasons that Rushton Skakel hired him and moved him into his home to help with his children.
On October 30, 1975, Ken Littleton began his first day as private tutor for Tommy (17) and
Michael (15) Skakel. Both boys were poor students and Rushton SR hired Ken to assist the
boys with their studies. Tommy and Michael had the reputation around town of being wild
kids. It may have been a thought of Rushton's, that having another man in the house to
help keep his boys in line during his frequent absences, was not such a bad idea. He had
done the same thing the year before with another hired tutor. In the past Rush had had to
sit on Tommy during his fits of rage, to calm him down. Having a young, physically fit
male around to help out with his unruly boys, seemed a logical decision.
At about 7:00 the evening of Martha's murder, Ken accompanied Rush JR, Tommy, John,
Michael and Julie Skakel, their cousin Jim Terrien, and Julie's friend Andrea Shakespeare
to the Belle Haven Club for dinner. They returned at 8:45. Ken states that he remained in
the home for the rest of the evening. He was staying in the bedroom of Rushton SR while he
was out of town, so after returning from dinner, he went there to complete unpacking. He
flipped on the television to watch the movie "The French Connection".
At about 9:30 - 10:00, the Skakel nanny Ms Sweeney, heard a commotion outside and asked
Ken Littleton to "go check on the boys". According to Littleton, he opened the
front door, stepped outside and heard leaves rustling. He became spooked at some point,
and went back into the Skakel home. He did not see the Skakel boys. Because the police
reports are redacted, what he did after this is not known.
In considering Ken Littleton as suspect, we see that he has pretty much all of his time
accounted for by Skakel family and household staff. Everyone saw or knew where he was most
of the time. Considering a superior court judge who was privy to the police reports
granted immunity to Littleton, it seems he was hardly a viable suspect.
Initially the police eliminated Ken Littleton as suspect, most likely for the obvious of
reasons. He was a respected teacher and coach at Brunswick, did not know Martha Moxley,
was not familiar with the neighborhood (as her killer apparently was), and it would be a
real stretch of the imagination to think that Ken, on his first night of employment in the
home of a prominent family, would "welcome himself to the neighborhood" , by
offing one of the neighbor's children. For all he knew, Martha could have been a Skakel
relative living next door! Even so, Littleton agreed to take a few polygraphs which he
failed. It does make one curious as to what Ken Littleton knew, or suspected, about the
events surrounding Martha's death. Since polygraphs are not accepted in a court of law,
and Dorthy Moxley herself did not pass the polygraph that she had been administered, these
results are not very impressive.
Over the years since Martha's murder, Littleton was dogged by the police investigating her
death. But why? Common sense dictates he was one of the least likely suspects in the
Skakel home that evening, so why did the police apply such pressure on him? The only
logical reason would be that the police believed that if Ken Littleton did not in fact
know who killed Martha Moxley, his close proximity and access to the Skakel family, may
have led Ken to suspect who her killer was. In the very least, he had an eye on the inside
of the Skakel home and could be privy to conversations being held. As time passed, the
police really did not have much choice because Littleton was the only one who had been in
the Skakel home the night of Martha's murder, willing to talk to the police.
In the spring of 1976, Rushton Skakel released Ken Littleton from his services. It appears
to be quite the curious thing to Ken Littleton. 25 Years later he still does not
understand why Rush let him go. Shortly after this, Franz Wittine the Skakel gardener for
20 years leaves his job voluntarily. With the summer months ahead, and lots of chores for
him to do, the timing of his departure is very curious.. At this point the Skakel family
were incognito and the police were still following Littleton up with requests for
interviews. It seems to have finally become apparent to the Greenwich police,
Martha's murderer resided in the Skakel home. Since Littleton was the only one accessible,
it is not a surprise that the police continued to hound him in their desire to resolve
this case.
Rushton SR dismissing Littleton does not seem such a big surprise. It would be difficult
if not impossible for the Skakel's to attempt to point the finger at someone who is still
living in their home. It seems firing Littleton was a strategic move on the part of the
Skakel's to set ground work for things that would happen in the future with this
continuing investigation. In later years, when the Sutton investigators were hired to look
into the murder, it would be Ken Littleton, who would be the family's prime scapegoat.
Due to the continual harassment by the Greenwich police, Littleton lost several positions
as teacher with at least two schools. A string of hard luck seemed to surround him and he
began drinking heavily and acting out of character. In the summer of 1976 Ken Littleton
was residing in Nantucket. He was arrested for stealing yard ornaments and burying them in
his yard. Certainly odd behavior, but did stealing lawn jockeys make one a cold blooded
killer?
In the years to follow, the police AND Sutton investigators would attempt to link him to
several murders that occurred in the communities he lived in or visited. They tracked
Littleton's whereabouts for a specific time period, then looked for murders in those local
areas during those time frames. No evidence ever was found to link him to either the
Moxley case or any of the unsolved murders in the states where he lived.
In October 1975, Ken Littleton had a bright future. He could have gone somewhere and been
someone. Yet, in 1976 Ken was considered a possible serial killer! Could this be the
reason his life took a downward spiral and seemed to careen out of control? Shortly after
the murder Ken began to exhibit signs of bipolar disorder. Frequently, life events trigger
the onset of this illness in those that have the propensity to the disease. It does not
seem much of a stretch to believe that a man that only months before had everything going
for him, who now found himself in the midst of a high profile murder case, and no doubt to
him, a possible scapegoat to the crime, would feel a tremendous amount of anxiety.
In viewing Ken's life in these terms, it does not seem all that incredible to see what has
happened to him since. How would we all react if our livelihoods were taken from us just
because we had the misfortune of tying up with the wrong family? It is a choice I am sure
Ken has had much angst over for decades.
In 1999, Grand Jurist Thim while investigating the Moxley case, granted immunity to Ken
Littleton in return for his testimony. He is quoted as having shook the hand of prosecutor
Jon Benedict and saying "thank you" to him after his Grand Jury testimony. Two
decades of stress and anxiety finally being taken off his shoulders. It seems the relief
caused him to enter into another phase of his bipolar disorder.
Shortly after his Grand Jury testimony, Ken Littleton attempted suicide at his Boston
apartment that he shared with his live in girlfriend. He was said to have had suffered a
severe depression after the tragic airplane crash that killed John F Kennedy JR, his wife
Caroline and her sister Lauren. Ken is certainly one of the many tragedies in this case.
Having been hounded and perhaps threatened for 25 years, apparently took its toll on this
once promising young man. It seems to have placed him in his own purgatory. Hopefully,
things will begin to turn around for Ken. Although he can never regain what has been taken
from him, we can sincerely hope that the rest of his life is led without the added burden
of his association with the Skakel family.
Other than having consumed alcoholic beverages the night of the murder, Ken Littleton does
not in any way match the criteria of the profile done on Martha's killer.
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