Suspect:

Ken Littleton

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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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