Dorthy Moxley, the mother who fought for decades to bring her teenage daughter's killer to justice in a roller-coaster Connecticut murder case that captured the nation's attention for years, has died. She was 92.
Moxley had stoically endured countless legal twists and turns, including many involving a prime suspect in the killing, Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, who was convicted of the crime and later freed after his murder conviction was vacated.
Moxley's son John told The Associated Press on Thursday that his mother died Tuesday at her home in Summit, New Jersey, of complications from flu and possibly pneumonia.
“Through all the ups and downs, she was the most glass-half-full person I’ve ever known,” Moxley said. He described his mother as a “crusader” for justice on behalf of his 15-year-old sister Martha, but “never vindictive.”
The elder Moxley, who had been living in New Jersey for more than 20 years, was devoted to finding Martha's killer and keeping the case in the public eye. The teen was beaten to death on Oct. 30, 1975, with a golf club. Her battered body was found the next day under a tree on her family's estate in the wealthy Belle Haven section of Greenwich, across the street from the Skakel family's home.
The shocking murder, which went unsolved for decades, became a sensation and the subject of several books, a film and a documentary series. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a staunch defender of his cousin, released a book in 2016 about the case saying Skakel — the nephew of Kennedy's mother, Ethel — had been framed.
Skakel was arrested in 2000, convicted of murder in 2002 and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Several appeals followed. After serving more than 11 years in prison, he was freed in 2013 on $1.2 million bail after a lower court judge overturned his conviction, saying his trial lawyer failed to adequately represent him.
The state Supreme Court reinstated the conviction in a 4-3 ruling in 2016. But the justice who wrote the decision retired soon afterward and a new justice sided with Skakel in a highly unusual 4-3 opinion in 2018 that overturned the conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the state’s appeal in 2019 and a second trial was not pursued, in part because many of the potential witnesses had since died and there wasn't enough evidence for a retrial.
Skakel's lawyer, Stephan Seeger, called it a “day for justice" at the time and that his client was innocent of the crime.
John Moxley told the AP in 2020 that he and his mother still believed Skakel killed Martha, but they were at peace with the decision not to seek a second trial. On Thursday, he said they ultimately did get justice for his sister.
“It was just incredible how much support we got from people that we knew and people that we didn’t know," he said. “My mother was always grateful and chose to focus on the communal spirit, if you will, rather than the law. My mother always said she believed in angels and the angels really came out to support her, to support us.”
Known for her kind and cooperative demeanor, Moxley was asked by police departments in other states to meet with family members of murder victims who were uncomfortable speaking with police, John Moxley said. His mother also spoke at police and victims' advocacy conferences throughout the years.
“She was able to take that spirit of support and knowing how important it was to share that with others. And that gave her a lot of joy, knowing that she could help somebody else," he said. “Somebody one time she was tough. She said, ‘I’m not tough. I’m just strong.’”
FILE - Dorthy Moxley, the mother of Martha Moxley, leaves court, April 20, 2007, in Stamford, Conn. (AP Photo/Douglas Healey, File)
FILE - Dorthy Moxley, the mother of murder victim Martha Moxley, leaves State Superior Court, on the sixth day of Michael Skakel's habeas corpus trial, April 23, 2013, in Vernon, Conn. (Jason Rearick/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, File)
Azerbaijan's flag carrier announced Friday that it will suspend flights to several Russian airports, citing potential flight safety risks after a crash of one of its planes that many experts blamed on Russian air defense fire.
Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons still unclear and crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan after flying east across the Caspian Sea. The crash killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.
Authorities in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia were tight-lipped about a possible cause of the crash pending an official probe, but a lawmaker in Azerbaijan blamed Moscow. Rasim Musabekov told the Azerbaijani news agency Turan on Thursday that the plane was fired on while in the skies over Grozny, and urged Russia to offer an official apology.
Asked about Musabekov's statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment, saying that it will be up to investigators to determine the cause of the crash.
“The air incident is being investigated and we don't believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as part of the crash probe, Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement.
As the official crash probe started, some aviation experts pointed out that holes seen in the plane’s tail section suggested that it could have come under fire from Russian air defense systems fending off a Ukrainian drone attack.
Ukrainian drones had previously attacked Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, and other regions in the country’s North Caucasus. An official in Chechnya said another drone attack on the region was fended off on Wednesday, although federal authorities didn’t report it.
FlightRadar24 said in an online post that the aircraft had faced “strong GPS jamming” that interfered with flight tracking data. Russia has extensively used sophisticated jamming equipment to fend off drone attacks.
Following Wednesday's suspension of flights from Baku to Grozy and Makhachkala, Azerbaiajan Airlines on Friday also halted service to more Russian cities, cutting air links to Mineralnye Vody, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara.
It said in a statement that the flights will be suspended “following the preliminary results of the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft operating flight J2-8243 from Baku to Grozny, caused by physical and technical interference, and considering potential risks to flight safety.”
The company will continue to operate flights to six other Russian cities including Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan. Those cities also have been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes in the past.
Kazakhstan's Qazaq Air also announced Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains for a month.
The day before, Israeli El Al suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow citing “developments in Russia’s airspace." The airline said it would reassess the situation next week to decide whether to resume the flights.
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Associated Press writer Aida Sultanova contributed to this report from London.
Rescuers transport wounded passengers from a medical plane after the Azerbaijani Airline crashed, near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, upon their arrival at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo)
The head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in St. Petersburg Vagif Mamishev lays flowers at the Consulate of Azerbaijan in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, in memory of victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 that crashed near the Kazakhstan's airport of Aktau. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Cadets of the aviation school lay flowers in memory of victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 that crashed near the Kazakhstan's airport of Aktau, at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo)
Workers carry a coffin with a body of a victim from a medical plane after the Azerbaijani Airline crashed, near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, upon their arrival at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo)
Wounded passengers of the Azerbaijani Airline's plane crashed near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, are transported from a medical plane at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo)
In this photo released by Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service, a rescuer search at the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 laying on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of Mangystau region, a part of Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (The Administration of Mangystau Region via AP)
