02/27/02 Forget About The Greenwich Time: Independant Journalist Kevin F. McMurray Says Juvenile Margolies Murder Suspect Has Criminal Record

A Greenwich resident thought to be a primary suspect by the Greenwich Police Department in the disappearance/murder of 13-year old Matthew Margolies had a criminal complaint filed against him a few weeks prior to the 1984 Labor Day weekend murder of the Margolies boy.

The 16-year old individual was arrested on an assault charge after allegedly beating up another 13-year old boy not far from where the Margolies family resided.

The suspect and the young victim had gone to a vacant house owned by the suspect's family on his suggestion that they get some sodas. Ordered into the bathroom by the older boy the victim refused whereupon he was grabbed by the neck, throttled, then forced into the bathroom and punched in the face. What transpired afterwards was not publicly revealed at the time but it was reported that the boy was told by his assailant to explain that his injuries were a result of a bicycle accident.

When the police followed up on the complaint by the victim's family the suspect told them he had taken the younger boy to the house to clean up the wounds suffered by the purported bicycle accident. Due to the fact that the suspect was a juvenile adjudication of the charges were sealed.

No one has been indicted or arrested in the 18-year old murder of Matthew Margolies.

04/01/01 BOSTON GLOBE: Greenwich's other murder 1984 case reopened amid spotlight on Moxley slaying

By Lisa Prevost, Boston Globe Correspondent

GREENWICH, Conn. - Maryann Margolies has long accepted that the unsolved murder of her son can't compete for public attention with the fatal bludgeoning of fellow Greenwich teen Martha Moxley.

The killings were startlingly similar: Moxley was just 15 when she was found dead in the backyard of her family's estate in affluent Greenwich. Matthew Margolies was 13 when he was slain near his home in the Glenville neighborhood.

But the media appeal of the Moxley case has - as far as the Margolies investigation was long concerned - made all the difference in the world.

While Margolies was raised in an unremarkable working-class neighborhood, Moxley lived and died in exclusive Belle Haven.

More importantly, her suspected killer is her former neighbor, Michael Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy.

''The Moxley case has gotten the amount of attention it has primarily because of the Kennedy connection,'' said Maryann Margolies, a nursing director who still lives here. ''And that's a fact of life. That's reality.''

But more than 16 years after his murder, Matthew Margolies is about to get equal time.

Though they appear to have no new evidence to go on, Greenwich police and the state's attorney's cold case unit have come back to the Margolies case - a case that has long been known here as Greenwich's other unsolved murder.

Greenwich Police Chief Peter Robbins, who was a lieutenant detective when Margolies was murdered, has vowed to bring the case to some conclusion. The police recently enlisted renowned forensics expert Dr. Henry Lee to reexamine the evidence.

Though it's hardly common for police to reopen an investigation after so many years, the media frenzy driven by Skakel's arrest and impending trial - 25 years after Moxley's death - made it increasingly difficult for police to leave the Margolies murder alone.

The local newspaper, Greenwich Time, turned up the heat on police last year when it published a severe editorial: ''Another Old Murder Waits To Be Solved.''

And a local man has helped raise the Margolies murder's profile by maintaining the Web site www.matthewmargolies.com.

Greenwich native Tom Alessi launched the site a few years ago because, he says, he was frustrated by a widespread lack of attention to Margolies's murder.

The Margolies site averages an impressive 1,000 hits a day, although they may be primarily click-through traffic from Alessi's more popular sibling site: www.marthamoxley.com.

''I thought it was sort of wrong that there was all this interest in Martha's case and there was still a second murder that was just as important and not getting as much media attention,'' he said.

By reopening the Margolies case, police are hoping to capitalize on media interest in the Moxley murder, a case that has been profiled on television's ''Unsolved Murders'' and the subject of or thinly veiled in salacious novels.

At a press conference last month, the Greenwich police more than doubled the reward they had been offering for new information in the Margolies case, from $20,000 to $50,000. They also established a hotline for tips (203-532-1949), and brought Maryann Margolies forward to make an emotive plea.

''The media attention is already there because of the Moxley case,'' said James Walters, the Greenwich Police Department's deputy chief for criminal investigations. ''It sure helped the turnout at the press conference.''

But the odds of solving such an old case are not favorable.

Obtaining enough evidence to secure an arrest and conviction is very difficult in any cold case, acknowledged Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano.

''We are very clear when we meet with victims' families that we don't have any more answers than anyone else,'' Morano said. ''But what we do have is time to look into the case.''

The state's cold case unit has obtained arrest warrants in seven of the 15 cases it is working on, he said. So far, only one of the arrest warrants has led to a conviction.

Dr. Harry Bonell, chief deputy medical examiner in San Diego and a consulting expert for the national advocacy group Parents of Murdered Children, found that as few as 10 to 15 percent of cold cases are ever solved. But those 10 to 15 percent, he said, provide crucial hope to grieving families.

On Aug. 31, 1984, Matthew Margolies was stabbed repeatedly with a boning knife and suffocated with dirt that was forced down his throat. Five days passed before police found the body in a wooded area not far from a nearby river where he often went fishing.

Though police had a roster of suspects, no arrest was made.

Officials now hope advances in forensic science will enable them to identify Margolies's killer. ''We've always felt the case was solvable,'' Walters said. ''We believe the DNA analysis is going to be instrumental.''

According to Walters, work on the Margolies case slowed to a stop between 1990 and 1996.

Then, in 1998 - about a year after Robbins became chief and about the same time a one-man grand jury was appointed to consider evidence in the Moxley case - Robbins assigned two detectives to go through the 1,000-page Margolies file. Last November, the Greenwich police asked the cold case unit to join the probe.

As with the Moxley case, Greenwich police have been long and loudly accused of mishandling the initial investigation. In a 1986 report, an outside consultant faulted the Greenwich force for, among other things, failing to assign a detective to the case until after Margolies's body was found - and then only assigning one detective to view the crime scene.

''I think that if the police had had more experience and had involved the detective division, and had listened more closely to the things we had to say, they would certainly have not gone for that length of time without finding him,'' Maryann Margolies said in a recent interview.

But from Morano's perspective, the Greenwich police may have salvaged the case - albeit years later - with their conscientious handling of the evidence.

All crucial pieces of evidence were sealed after they were last viewed in 1984. All police reports are in the file.

And, rather presciently, the Greenwich police took hair samples from their suspects. Considering that in 1984 few in law enforcement had ever heard of DNA analysis, it was either far-sighted or inadvertently fortunate, Morano said.

Maryann Margolies says the ups and downs in the investigation of her son's murder have become increasingly hard on her.

This time, she says, she needs the case to be either solved or resolved.

''It's more painful each time it resurfaces than it was at the time of the murder,'' she said. ''With the passage of time, you've started to get your life back in some semblance of order and normality.''

And while legal closure may not mean emotional closure, ''it has to be less painful.''

03/06/11 Announcement Expected in Margolies Case

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

State and local law enforcement officials are planning to hold a press conference this week to announce new measures to advance the investigation into the 1984 slaying of Glenville teenager Matthew Margolies. Although not expected to publicly release details about the investigation itself, the chief state's attorneys office and Greenwich Police Department said they will announce plans which will help the public assist with the investigation.

"We feel there are people who know things and are hoping they will come forward and assist by providing what they know," Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano said on Friday. "The purpose of this press conference will be to reach out to the general public and see what assistance can be provided by them."

Morano, who has headed the Margolies investigation since November, said the appeal for help was not due to a lack of progress by the investigative team, which is composed of detectives from the Greenwich Police Department and the state's cold case unit, as well as forensic scientists.

In fact, the prosecutor said new information about the formerly dormant case has reinforced the belief that the case can be solved.

Morano said the measures to be announced at the Thursday afternoon press conference at Cole Auditorium in Greenwich Library, are part of the investigative team's strategy.

Members of the victim's family met with Morano and other team members for the first time Wednesday to be briefed on the investigation and work out details of the press conference. Maryann Margolies said she came away from the meeting feeling hopeful about her son's case.

"I was pleased," she said yesterday. "I am confident that through the efforts of this team we will reach some form of closure." Although they declined to disclose what will be announced, officials have compared the news conference to one held a decade ago concerning the 1975 Martha Moxley beating death.

In 1991, Chief State's Attorney John Bailey, flanked by local police officials, came to Greenwich to reveal that a re-investigation of the Moxley case had begun. Bailey also announced a doubling of the reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the 15-year-old Greenwich girl's killer, as well as the establishment of a 24-hour tip line.

Seven years later, in 1998, and based on information gathered during the re- investigation, a grand jury was convened to further probe the crime and use its power to subpoena reluctant witnesses. After 18 months of work, the grand jury issued a report that was used in January 2000 to obtain an arrest warrant for Moxley's alleged killer, Michael Skakel.

It is expected that the officials on Thursday will announce an increase in the $30,000 reward that has been in place for the Margolies case.

Margolies was four months shy of his 14th birthday when, on Aug. 31, 1984, he was brutally slain in a wooded area off Pemberwick Road, not far from his home on Pilgrim Drive in a section of Glenville known as "The Valley." According to the autopsy report, Margolies had been stabbed over a dozen times and was suffocated by dirt the killer shoved down his throat. The boy's body was concealed under a pile of brush, rocks and leaves, and despite an extensive search was not found until Sept. 5

Eight people who either lived or worked in the Glenville area were identified as suspects during the initial investigation, police said, and all remain under suspicion.

The case was actively investigated through 1988, but as the killer's trail grew colder, leads trickled to a stop.

Then, in early 1999, two Greenwich detectives were assigned to conduct a complete re-investigation of the case. After a year of preliminary work, which included a careful review of the nearly 700-page case file, the detectives began conducting interviews in March 2000. Since then, state forensic scientists have been reviewing physical evidence in the case and testing is expected to begin soon.

More leads surfaced after Greenwich Time in early September published a five- part series about the Margolies case, which included many previously unreported details obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. A month later, Greenwich police applied to have the case assigned to the state cold case unit.

Anyone with information about the Margolies case can call Greenwich detectives Timothy Duff , at 622-8080, or Gary Hoffkins, at 622-8037, or e-mail the state cold case squad at: cold.case@po.state.ct.us.

11/05/00 New hope for the Margolies case

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

Chiu San Wong didn't understand the English command to "lie still," so when he looked up at the men who were robbing the Fortune Restaurant, Wong was fatally shot.

A year after the robbery-murder occurred in New Britain in March 1997 local police found themselves at a dead end - the same place Greenwich police seemed to be in their probe of the 1984 murder of 13-year-old Matthew Margolies.

None of the customers in the restaurant could identify the gunman because he and his two accomplices wore ski masks. The only evidence recovered from the crime scene was the bullet that killed the 26-year-old restaurant worker.

"There comes a point in an investigation where leads dry up," New Britain police Capt. Michael Sullivan said. "The case was just kind of sitting there."

Then, in 1998, New Britain detectives teamed up with a squad from the newly formed cold case unit operating out of the chief state's attorney's office in Rocky Hill. The joint effort led to new approaches to investigating the crime and, ultimately, arrests of the alleged gunman and two accomplices.

Greenwich police are hoping for a similar outcome in the Margolies murder investigation now that the state cold case unit is assisting.

"I think they think it can be solved, so we're happy," Police Chief Peter Robbins said last week.

The Greenwich Police Department earlier this year assigned two officers full-time to re-investigate the Aug. 31, 1984, stabbing and suffocation murder of Margolies. Those officers, Sgt. Timothy Duff and Detective Gary Hoffkins, are now coordinating their efforts with the state cold case squad.

New Britain detectives investigating the Fortune Restaurant homicide informed their new partners that they had tried unsuccessfully to match the recovered bullet to a gun through the state police ballistics identification system. But the computerized system was not networked with other state's databases, so the search for the gun used to kill Wong was limited to Connecticut, Sullivan said.

The prosecutor assigned to the cold case squad for the Wong murder, Assistant State's Attorney Joan Alexander, suggested that the bullet be run through the Integrated Ballistics Identification System, a national database shared by 28 states.

The investigative team agreed to give IBIS a try, and brought the bullet that killed Wong to New Jersey, which is part of the IBIS network. There they got a hit - the bullet appeared to have come from the same gun used in another robbery-murder, in Patterson, N.J., for which an arrest had been made.

"There was a brainstorming process," Sullivan said. "Alexander devoted a lot of her time to this case looking into other forensic avenues. It helps to have extra eyes" looking at a cold case.

The man in custody in New Jersey, Gino Gentile, was subsequently identified as the shooter by the cold case squad, and earlier this year Gentile agreed to be extradicted to Connecticut to stand trial after his trial for the double homicide in Patterson is over. Once Gentile was identified, the cold case squad was able to track down and charge his two alleged accomplices.

The state's cold case unit is headed up by Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano, who said the four prosecutors and six inspectors who work full-time for the unit are investigating 17 old homicides, including that of Margolies.

"One of our inspectors, who retired from the Hartford Police Department, has over 300 homicide cases under his belt," said Morano, a Greenwich native.

The prosecutor said the unit "borrows" veteran homicide detectives from New Haven, Hartford and other large cities when they are needed.

"Our approach is to utilize the detectives that have worked on the case from the local department and have them work as a team with the attorneys and inspectors from the prosecutor's office who are able to provide their legal and investigative experience," Morano said.

When the state unit accepts a case for investigation, the case is assigned to a squad that is composed of a prosecutor, a state inspector, and at least one detective from the local police department.

In addition to the homicide experts, the cold case unit is assisted by the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory in Meriden, which Morano called "one of the best forensic labs in the country." Although badly backlogged with cases, the laboratory will expedite evidence analysis when the request comes from Morano, the state's second-highest-ranking prosecutor.

Another benefit the unit enjoys is that Dr. Henry Lee, the pre-eminent forensic scientist who retired this year as Connecticut's public safety commissioner, has signed on as an unpaid consultant.

"I'm probably the luckiest cold case prosecutor in the country - I have Dr. Lee's cell phone number and can call on him any time," Morano said. "He's always willing to help and to view things when we need it."

Another of the cold case unit's success stories involves the 1973 stabbing murder of Concetta "Penney" Serra in a downtown New Haven parking garage.

After an on-again off-again investigation that saw the emergence of three suspects - one of whom was exonerated through blood evidence on the eve of his trial - the Serra murder languished in the case files of the New Haven Police Department until pressure from the 21-year-old victim's family prompted the chief state's attorney's office to take it over.

Again using advanced methods of forensic science, members of the cold case squad last year secured an arrest warrant charging 57-year-old Edward Grant of Waterbury with Serra's murder.

The victim's sister, Rosemary Serra, praised the cold case unit for their diligence and compassion.

"This group of individuals the state has put together is a Godsend for these unsolved crimes," Sera said. "To put closure to my sister's case is their first and foremost objective."

Anyone with information about the Margolies case or any other unsolved homicide can contact the state's cold case unit by e-mail at: cold.case@po.state.ct.us.

10/08/00 Police probe role of drugs in Margolies murder

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

Investigators of a long unsolved Greenwich murder are examining the role drugs may have played in the killing of 13-year-old Matthew Margolies in 1984.

The detectives who began a re-investigation of the case earlier this year are looking into information that one of the suspects may have been under the influence of a hallucinogen on the afternoon of Aug. 31, 1984, the day Margolies was tortured and brutally murdered in the woods about a mile from his Pilgrim Drive home.

Police last month revealed detectives were tracking down new leads that could help them to pin down the whereabouts of one or more suspects the day of the crime, but they would not elaborate. Greenwich Time has learned that some of those leads involved information that a suspect may have ingested multiple doses of mescaline the day Matthew was slain.

Deputy Chief James Walters, commanding officer of the Greenwich Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division, refused comment when asked about the role drugs may have played in the murder. However, he did say that investigators suspect the crime may not have been premeditated.

"There is the possibility that the initial intent of the perpetrator was not murder, but it got to that stage as things spiraled out of control," Walters said this week.

One premeditation theory is that the murder may have been sexually motivated, possibly committed by a pedophile who knew Matthew and targeted him. Although there was no evidence of a sexual assault, that Matthew had been stripped to his under shorts and died from an "overkill" of multiple stab wounds and asphyxiation were among the reasons investigators had considered an FBI profiler's theory that the crime was sexual in nature.

Police Chief Peter Robbins seemed to discount that theory last month, when he said a sexually motivated murderer would likely feel compelled to kill again, but that "no similar crimes have been committed anywhere else" before or after the Margolies murder.

Another theory investigators explored is that the murder was not premeditated, but began as a confrontation that rapidly escalated because the assailant was both angry at the victim and under the influence of drugs.

In addition to being stabbed over a dozen times, mostly in the upper torso but also in the neck, Matthew had dirt and a stick forced down his throat while still alive. He was strangled with his own T-shirt and one of his socks was used to gag his mouth.

The teenager's body was concealed beneath a pile of rocks, tree branches and leaves on a wooded hillside between Pemberwick Road and Greenway Drive. The murder also occurred at that location, police said.

Charles Bahn, a forensic psychologist who reviewed the Margolies case for Greenwich Time, said the nature of the attack pointed more toward someone seeking to settle a score with the victim than being sexually motivated.

"There are patterns consistent with different kinds of motivations, and very often a very large number of multiple wounds - 30, 40 stab wounds, or more - implies a motive to obliterate an individual, wanting to literally cut them into pieces," the John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor said. "In certain sexual crimes, where the sexuality that occurred is repugnant to the doer, it produces feelings of disgust and shame, and one way to deal with that is to obliterate the victim.

"But you don't have that in this case," added Bahn, who has consulted on homicide cases for the New York City Police Department and lectures on psychological profiling of criminals at the FBI National Academy. "The number of wounds and their locations implies not only some torturing, but a revenge motivation, with the person's thinking being the victim should hurt as much as he made me hurt."

Bahn based his conclusions on details from news accounts, as well as details from the Margolies murder case file and autopsy report that were recently obtained by Greenwich Time. An edited version of the case file was given to the newspaper in a settlement brokered by the state Freedom of Information Commission.

Of the eight "key" suspects Greenwich police identified in their extensive investigation of the Margolies murder, one is thought to have had a possible revenge motive. According to police, the then-17-year-old suspect may have harbored a grudge against Matthew for having informed on him for cultivating a marijuana patch in the Glenville neighborhood known as The Valley, where both the victim and suspect lived.

According to Bahn, the dirt the killer forced down Matthew's throat may be symbolic of the motive.

"One way of looking at it is the victim was regarded as a person whose mouth was filled with dirt, who said bad and nasty things," the psychologist said. "But there's another way, and it has a semantic relationship: 'You opened your mouth, and now I'm going to make you eat dirt.' "

John Douglas, then a special agent with the FBI Behavioral Science Unit, concluded in a psychological profile he developed for Greenwich police in October 1984 that Matthew knew his attacker, and that the killer "demonstrated extensive personal anger and rage."

The suspect who police believe may have had a revenge motive, Greenwich Time has learned, is being examined by investigators for possibly having taken two or more "hits" of mescaline the afternoon of the murder, which police pinpoint between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

Mescaline, the chemical derivative of peyote, is a powerful hallucinogen that induces a sense of unreality, according to Patrick McAuliffe, executive director of the Connecticut Renaissance Inc. drug treatment program. The effects of mescaline are unpredictable, and vary with individual users, he said, but high doses of the drug can cause violent behavior.

"The wound pattern" on Matthew's body "suggests not only a revenge motive, but also someone who was out of control," Bahn said. "If taking multiple doses of mescaline, (the killer) may have been living in a fantasy world, and people on drugs have feelings of personal grandiosity and lose inhibitions against certain types of behavior."

If Matthew had been murdered out of revenge by someone high on a hallucinogen, then remarkable parallels could be drawn between that crime and another that occurred in New York two months earlier.

In June 1984, in the Long Island community of Northport, 17-year-old Ricky Kasso was reputed to be holding a grudge against friend Gary Lauwers, also 17, whom he had accused of stealing drugs. The prosecutor in the case, William Keahon, said Kasso and co-defendant James Troiano, 18, lured Lauwers into a wooded area of Northport in order to confront him about the theft.

"They had a camp fire going, and they got the victim up there by telling him they were going to share drugs with him," said Keahon, a former Suffolk County district attorney. Keahon said the confrontation quickly got out of hand because Kasso and Troiano were "tripping" on mescaline.

Keahon said the incident began with Kasso and Troiano yelling at Lauwers, but then Kasso began beating the victim and then used a pocket knife to repeatedly stab Lauwers, gouging out the victim's eyes in the process. Lauwers' body, which was concealed in a shallow grave covered with leaves, was not found until two weeks later.

"They did want to do something to Mr. Lauwers, but not with the intention of killing him," said Keahon, now in private practice in Islandia, N.Y.

The former prosecutor said the multiple doses of mescaline Kasso had taken influenced his aggressive and bizarre behavior. "From the experts I spoke with, even a small amount takes you out of reality," he said. "It releases any inhibitions you might have as a human being."

Kasso died two days after his arrest, when he hung himself in his jail cell. Troiano, charged as an accomplice, was acquitted at trial.

Troiano's attorney, Eric Naiburg, agreed the initial intent of the confrontation had not been to murder Lauwers, and when things got out of control it was unclear whether Kasso realized what he was doing when stabbing the victim.

"I remember my client asking me, 'Mr. Naiburg, when the trees are melting and the stars are racing across the sky, it's hard to know what's real and what's not,' " Naiburg said. "So you just don't know what their perceptions are. Were they killing a human being? You can't rely on what their perceptions were at the time."

John Hamilton, a licensed drug abuse counselor, said an encounter between a person high on mescaline and someone he perceives has wronged him has the potential for ending in violence.

"There is no doubt that whatever existing issues a person has can be greatly exacerbated by the mescaline," said Hamilton, senior vice president for the Stamford-based LMG Programs Inc. substance abuse treatment program. "The person might even become actively psychotic and lose control if the mescaline has exacerbated a pre-existing condition."

09/19/00 Press reports on Margolies case prompt new leads

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

The publication of newly released details about the murder of Glenville teenager Matthew Margolies nearly two decades ago has resulted in new and potentially valuable information, police said yesterday.

Those details, contained in a series of stories by Greenwich Time earlier this month, prompted some readers to come forward with previously unreported information about the activities of one or more suspects on Aug. 31, 1984, the day Margolies, 13, was believed to have been tortured and killed in a wooded area near the Byram River, according to police.

Police said a better understanding of a suspect's actions before and after the murder could help detectives more closely link a suspect to the crime. Few details about the new information were released.

The stories, based on 610 pages of police reports the newspaper obtained after filing a Freedom of Information Act complaint, gave the public the first detailed glimpse of the brutal nature of the murder and subsequent investigation, the most extensive Greenwich police said they had ever undertaken.

"It's generated a lot of activity for our investigators," Police Chief Peter Robbins said of the news articles. "We've gotten some new information from people we've heard from before, and other information has come from people we've never heard from."

Robbins would not be specific about the new information, except to say some of it concerned "the whereabouts at certain times" on the day of the murder of one or more of the eight suspects in the case.

The Margolies murder investigation was reactivated in March, when two detectives were assigned to the case on a full-time basis. According to Robbins, the detectives are now in the process of following up on the new information.

Greenwich Time had requested a copy of the Margolies murder case file from the Police Department in October, and when the request was denied a complaint was lodged with the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. The complaint was withdrawn in June, under an FOIC-brokered settlement, in which police agreed to release reports from the Margolies case file with suspects' names and other information deemed crucial for the investigation blacked out.

Although heavily edited, it is clear from the released police reports the investigation has focused on the following suspects:

A 32-year-old maintenance worker and suspected pedophile who a year before Margolies was murdered allegedly assaulted a 16-year-old male jogger in the woods along the Byram River.

A 16-year-old boy known as a neighborhood bully who knew the victim and had roughed up Margolies weeks before the murder. He was arrested a month before Margolies was murdered for allegedly assaulting another 13-year-old boy, and had pulled a knife on another neighborhood boy in an incident that went unreported.

A 16-year-old occasional fishing companion of Margolies who once told someone that he would like to "ditch that little bastard," and whose activities the day of the murder have been questioned by detectives.

A 17-year-old boy from Margolies' neighborhood who was thought to have had a revenge motive because he blamed the victim for telling police about marijuana plants he had grown and was subsequently arrested.

A 38-year-old man who worked in Glenville who might have been familiar with the victim and whose activities shortly after the murder were viewed as suspicious.

A suspected pedophile in his late 20s who drove a red pick-up truck similar to one witnesses said they saw near the crime scene just prior to Margolies' murder.

A 47-year-old man who had aroused the suspicion of state police while being questioned about a series of shootings along Interstate 95.

A man in his 50s who lived in Margolies' neighborhood and had a history of criminal violence.

09/16/00 Series renews talk of Margolies murder

By Cameron D. Martin - Greenwich Time

Sixteen years ago, residents regularly came together at Pemberwick X-Change to share information and commiserate in the wake of the murder of 13-year-old Matthew Margolies.

Last week, after publication of a four-part Greenwich Time series on the search for the boy, the discovery of his murder, and the investigation that followed, the unsolved murder was once again the focus of talk at the Pemberwick Road deli, as regulars discussed information previously unknown to them, according to owner Steve Pugliese.

"Everybody was trying to pull things from their memory banks, to see if they could make any new connections," said Pugliese, 47, who lives on Pemberwick Road, about one mile south of where Matthew's mutilated body was discovered on a wooded hillside Sept. 5, 1984.

Copies of last week's newspaper series sold out quickly at his store each morning, Pugliese said, as he and others read about previously unknown aspects of the story.

"I thought three suspects, not eight," said Pugliese, who thought he had gone to school with one of the suspects, who were described but not named by police. "I don't think anyone was aware there were that many suspects they could build a solid case against. It would seem they all had a means and a motive."

Greenwich police have said that is one of the reasons the case is so difficult to solve.

Matthew, well-known in his close-knit western Greenwich neighborhood known as "The Valley," disappeared Aug. 31, 1984. His body was discovered five days later beneath a pile of rocks, branches and leaves in a wooded area about a mile from his Pilgrim Drive home. He had been stripped to his undershorts, stabbed over a dozen times with a knife, and suffocated with dirt that was forced down his throat.

The brutal slaying of the teenager shocked the seemingly safe neighborhood and began a massive investigation. No arrests were made nor was a prime suspect publicly named. In recent years, the investigation slowed as all leads were exhausted and no new information developed.

Greenwich Time sought to take an in-depth look at the file in order to present a detailed, public summary of the case and the investigation. An agreement for release of the file was reached through the office of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, and Greenwich Police opened much of the file while keeping some names and details confidential to protect its investigation.

In last week's four-part series, the description of eight suspects was made available to the public for the first time. Along with details of the brutal murder, the list of suspects, although they were nameless, heightened awareness of the crime within the Pemberwick community, Pugliese said.

No new information in the Margolies case has been announced by Greenwich police since the conclusion of the series, and Police Chief Peter Robbins did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

Yet reference to the case by renowned criminal forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee during a speech at Greenwich High School Monday, and other information - mostly in the form of sentiments and condolences posted on the Margolies Web site - keeps the case fresh in the minds of residents.

"My daughter was over at Hay Day (Country Market) in Riverside last week, and there were some people there who were talking about it, and commenting about how they didn't know the whole case had gone to the extent that it had," Judy Moretti, 58, a longtime Pemberwick resident, said Wednesday. "I think most people outside our neighborhood remembered it as a kid missing, not what came afterwards."

On Monday, Dr. Lee told a Greenwich High School crowd that trace evidence found at the scene of Matthew Margolies' murder could yield a connection to a suspect. Lee, who until April served as Connecticut's public safety commissioner and has been involved in the renewed investigation through his work at the state crime lab, declined to say what that evidence might be.

"What was found at the murder site I call trace or transfer evidence," Lee said Monday. "Sometimes that can be very good and you can make a connection. But I can't really discuss any active case."

Town residents, from Pemberwick in particular, need time to absorb the information made available to them recently, Moretti said.

"It's been a good wake-up call for the public," Moretti said. "I think we have to sift through things and see if anyone remembers anything."

Matthew Margolies' mother, Maryann, said Wednesday that in the past week she has received numerous messages posted on the Web site devoted to the case of her son's murder, www.MatthewMargolies.com. The public, she said, is more aware of the case since the recent release of information.

"I think that there's a heightened awareness in the general public of what's happened, and that's good," Margolies said. "I certainly remain optimistic to come to some sort of closure on this and intend to see things through."

One message posted to the Web site, from a Greenwich woman named "Lisa," reads: "We all need to back off the Greenwich Police Department a little bit. I am sure though it is 16 years later, that they have a pretty good idea as to who murdered Matthew. I think they just lack the evidence.

"With forensic science as it is today, they may already be running tests they were not able to do in 1984. Trust in the fact that there are people out there who know things the tiniest things that may help and trust that they are speaking up.

"Trust that the Greenwich Police Department are the only ones who can help Maryann now the only ones who can avenge Matthew's death. Let's pray for the Greenwich Police Department as well and wish the nightmare to its end."

09/12/00 Dr. Henry Lee gives forensic, life lessons

By Martin B. Cassidy - Greenwich Time

Trace evidence found at the scene of 13-year-old Matthew Margolies' murder could yield a connection to a suspect, renowned criminal forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee last night told a crowd gathered at Greenwich High School.

Lee was referring to the brutal, unsolved murder of Pemberwick teenager Matthew Margolies on Aug. 31, 1984. The investigation into the slaying has been renewed by Greenwich police and has involved the examination of trace evidence by Lee, who until April served as Connecticut's public safety commissioner. Lee last night declined to say what that evidence might be.

Lee's presentation was the kickoff of the fall Greenwich Continuing Education program, and attracted about 150 residents, police officers and crime buffs.

"What was found at the murder site I call trace or transfer evidence," Lee said. "Sometimes that can be very good and you can make a connection. But I can't really discuss an active case."

Lee's comments came at the start of a biographical presentation at Greenwich High School. Lee, who was not paid for his appearance, was selected to give the address because of his role in advancements in the use of forensic DNA testing in solving crimes.

Lee, 61, retired from his state post to focus on the more than 800 open murder investigations he is assisting in nationwide. He maintains the title of chief emeritus with the state and still works in the state lab in Meriden.

With considerable humor, Lee last night narrated a slide show that touched on his early family life and police career in China; his favorite sayings and axioms; and his forensic career, including his testimony during the O.J. Simpson murder trial and his contribution to the Jon Benet Ramsey murder investigation.

Lee was born into a wealthy family in Taiwan in 1938 during a Communist uprising in China. After his family was stripped of its possessions, his father drowned under mysterious circumstances, leaving his mother to raise 13 children.

Unable to afford college tuition, Lee said he enrolled in Taiwan's police academy, graduating at the top of his class and becoming the youngest police captain in China at the age of 22.

"I cheated on all my exams. If you finished at the top of your class you were made a captain," Lee said to laughter. "My mother has always pushed me to work harder. I don't know how she did it, but we all got our educations."

Wanting to learn more about criminal science, Lee came to New York City and worked three jobs to pay for classes at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and to earn a doctorate in biochemistry from New York University. Lee said during this period he worked, studied or went to class 18 to 20 hours a day, typing all his term papers on a toy typewriter and giving kung fu lessons to earn extra cash.

Throughout last night's presentation, Lee called on audience members to answer science questions and rewarded correct answers with plastic Connecticut state trooper badges.

"In this world there are two ways to make it," Lee said. "One is to be named Rockefeller or Kennedy. The other is to work hard. It's not surprising which one I chose."

Lee ruefully joked about the calls he receives in the middle of the night when he would rather sleep, and showed a disturbing photograph of a man who died of a drug overdose to remind the audience of the value of life.

"If this man had another chance, he would probably say he wouldn't do drugs," Lee said. "Sometimes God only gives us one chance. We must teach children to cherish life."

Greenwich High School junior Joshua Mertz, 16, attended Lee's lecture and said he will take an introductory forensic science course next semester.

"I wish we had more talks like this during school," Mertz said. "I was pretty surprised at how funny it was. When I heard he was coming here to speak, I just had to go."

Greenwich Police Officer Pier Corticelli said he was struck by Lee's emphasis on striving for excellence.

"It makes you want to work harder and do better," Corticelli said. "The talk gave you a lot of history and personality."

Although retired, Lee said he still works 17-hour days because he loves criminal forensics. Lee closed the evening by telling the audience to be successful they must balance hard work, family and friends, and their spirituality.

"The master of the art of living is the man who makes his work his play and keeps his labor the same as his leisure," Lee said.

09/11/00 LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To The Editor Of The Greenwich Time.

Dear Mr. Pisani:

I would like to acknowledge the Greenwich Time in their efforts to report the material made available to them by the Greenwich Police Department through the Freedom of Information Commission.

Deserving of special recognition is Joe Johnson, staff reporter. He has demonstrated great sensitivity not only towards Matthew as a person, but also toward us, Matthew's family.

In reporting the information at hand, a sense of dignity has been maintained. It is this dignity which is of so much importance to me as Matthew's mother.

I hold great pride in being a member of such a caring community. And it is also
reassuring to know that our local newspaper exhibits such fine journalism.

I am forever and always,

Matthew's Mom
September 10, 2000

09/08/00 16 years later, family waits for justice

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

Stella Miazga turned 84 last Friday, but she didn't really celebrate.

Sitting in the living room of her house on Morgan Avenue, the woman cheerfully accepted the love and best wishes of three generations of family that surrounded her - but real joy was not in her heart.

That's pretty much how it's been each of the 16 birthdays Miazga has observed since Sept. 1, 1984 - one day after 13-year-old grandson Matthew Margolies was reported missing, and four days before his mutilated body would be found in the woods up the road from Miazga's house.

"I miss Matthew terribly, and I wish he was here. I think about him all the time," Miazga said. "This (the murder) puts a real damper on my birthday. I just don't want to celebrate it."

When he was alive, Matthew was a constant presence in the Miazga household. Living just a few blocks away, on Pilgrim Drive, Matthew would always drop by the Miazgas, usually to go fishing with grandfather George. After George Miazga was diagnosed with cancer, Matthew began making extra visits to help care for his grandfather, who succumbed to his illness two weeks before Matthew was murdered.

"He was such a loving child," Stella Miazga said. "He cared for his grandfather when I went to work. Matthew would make his grandfather's breakfast and make sure he took his medication."

Miazga, who is in her 31st year as receptionist for the Greenwich-Laurelton Nursing & Convalescent Home, vowed: "I won't rest until the person who did this to Matthew is found."

The murder has gone unsolved this long not for lack of trying by authorities. The 610 pages of the Margolies case file recently obtained by Greenwich Time chronicle the most intensive criminal investigation ever undertaken by the Greenwich Police Department, an exhaustive effort to track down a sadistic killer who tortured, repeatedly stabbed, strangled and forced dirt and a stick down his victim's throat.

Police reports show how the investigation was guided by an FBI profiler, and physical evidence recovered at the crime scene was analyzed by one of the nation's preeminent forensic scientists, Dr. Henry Lee. Detectives canvassed the victim's neighborhood, known as The Valley - a working-class neighborhood along the banks of the Byram River in the Pemberwick section of Glenville - where they knocked on countless doors and interviewed hundreds of people looking for witnesses and possible leads.

Despite those efforts, the investigation does not appear to have resulted even in a circumstantial case against the killer or killers.

Police said they have eight "key suspects," but lack any evidence that directly links any of them to the Aug. 31, 1984 murder.

But both police and members of the Margolies family have found a new sense of optimism from an arrest earlier this year in another long-unsolved Greenwich murder case. The investigation of the 1975 Martha Moxley homicide, which culminated with the Jan. 19 arrest of former Moxley neighbor Michael Skakel, had been sustained for many years by circumstantial evidence that pointed toward members of Skakel's family.

"It certainly gives me hope in the justice system," Maryann Margolies, Matthew's mother, said of Skakel's arrest. "It's not that I've ever lost hope, it's just that (the arrest) shows that anything's possible."

Skakel, now 39, was one of the last persons seen with 15-year-old Moxley prior to her murder the evening of Oct. 30, 1975. The murder weapon was identified as a 6-iron from a set of golf clubs owned by Skakel's family, who lived across the street from the Moxleys in the town's Belle Haven neighborhood.

Those circumstances, coupled with alleged incriminating statements Skakel made years later, led to a Superior Court judge's finding last month that sufficient evidence exists for Skakel to stand trial.

As in the Moxley case, the weapon used to torture and murder Matthew Margolies was recovered at the crime scene - a 10 inch Foster Brothers knife, commonly used for de-boning fish and poultry. Police say they have been unable to determine where the knife came from, and have therefore been unable to begin circumstantially linking the weapon's owner to the crime.

Determining ownership of the knife would give police one of the three legs of a case - the means to commit murder, with the other two being opportunity and motive. Some of the key suspects appeared to have established solid alibis for their whereabouts when Matthew was killed, and so would apparently not have had an opportunity to commit the crime.

Whether all of the suspects had alibis that withstood scrutiny could not be determined from the heavily edited pages of the Margolies murder case file that were released.

And as for motive, the released reports appear to show that only one of the key suspects may have had a reason to murder Matthew - the 17-year-old neighborhood boy who was arrested for growing marijuana and apparently blamed Matthew for tipping off the police. This suspect also had been familiar with the hillside crime scene area, according to police, as he had also been arrested once for rolling logs from there into traffic on Pemberwick Road below.

The psychological profile the FBI developed a month after the murder concluded that Matthew's killer was familiar with the crime scene area and felt comfortable being there while committing the crime.

But that profile, a product of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, also provides another possible motive for the crime, one that could only be found deep within the killer's mind. The profile speculates the murder had been sexually motivated: while torturing Matthew, who had been stripped to his under shorts, and shoving dirt and a stick down the victim's throat while still alive, the killer was acting out a sexual fantasy.

Officials said that this type of killer would likely strike again. But according to Police Chief Peter Robbins, "No similar crimes have been committed anywhere else, so we're even more confident the murderer lived, and possibly still lives, locally."

Other than means, motive and opportunity, police would be able to make a case from physical evidence other than the murder weapon found at the crime scene. But this avenue of investigation was severely limited by the fact Matthew's body went undiscovered for five days.

"From the outset of the investigation we had complexities," Robbins lamented. "We had no eyewitnesses. The body wasn't located immediately, which hampered us. The elements - extreme heat and rain - had an impact on what trace evidence was left at the crime scene."

Trace evidence can be anything left at a crime scene by the killer, including hair, fibers, and bodily fluids. A medical examiner's report indicates fingernail scrapings and hairs were removed from Matthew's body during the autopsy.

"There were a number of hairs and fibers, et cetera," Robbins said. "But the crime scene was a literal dump, and it was contaminated by wild and domestic animals, so distinguishing what came from where was nearly impossible."

The hillside crime scene was behind a group of homes on Greenway Drive, where appliances, mattresses and other household refuse had been discarded.

There were other problems early on as well. A 1986 critique by a paid consultant praised the Police Department for a thorough and largely competent investigation, but it also noted the following missteps:

Despite indications Margolies' disappearance might be due to foul play, a detective was not assigned to the case until after the boy's body was found. This meant six days of investigative opportunities were lost.

Only one detective was given the opportunity to view the crime scene while it remained intact, which placed severe limits on different perspectives that could be brought to bear.

When officers were given assignments to assist with the homicide investigation, explanations of what those assignments meant to the probe were not given;

Sensitive information was given to the press, decreasing the amount of information that would only be known solely by Margolies' murderer, a crucial element when questioning suspects.

The new push in the Margolies case began in earnest in March of this year, when Sgt. Timothy Duff, who had recently completed specialized training in cold case investigations, and Detective Gary Hoffkins started re-interviewing witnesses and suspects. Assisting them is Richard Haug, a retired Greenwich detective and one of the original lead Margolies case investigators, who has been retained as a consultant. All three investigators declined comment.

In the year leading up to active stage of the re-investigation, in which much preliminary work was done, police had trace evidence re-examined by forensic scientists for possible DNA identification. They have not disclosed what, if any, results those efforts have produced. In fact, none of the reports generated by the current re-investigation were released to Greenwich Time.

The emergence of new physical evidence notwithstanding, police have not placed all of their eggs in the basket of forensic science.

"I don't want to leave the impression that this is the only opportunity we have to bring this case to a successful conclusion," Deputy Chief James Walters of the Criminal Investigations Division said of the new round of laboratory testing.

Another potential solution to the Margolies murder mystery could come in the form of an admission someone may have made concerning the murder. Having already had somewhat of a circumstantial case against Michael Skakel, it was only after people began coming forward with recollections of admissions to the Martha Moxley murder that authorities sought the grand jury that ultimately issued a report that was used to obtain an arrest warrant.

The Margolies investigators are hoping for a similar break.

"The murderer could have made a slip or established a relationship with someone who has seen or heard him do or say something unusual that could implicate him," Robbins said.

The police chief added, "Relationships change through the years. Some people may be more willing to talk about an individual now because they've taken separate paths than people they were once friends with."

Maryann Margolies met with the investigators last month, and nothing she heard changed her belief that Matthew's killer will someday be identified and brought to justice.

"I met with them as recently as the 31st of August and was updated on the investigation," the 59-year-old Pemberwick woman said. "I remain optimistic that at some point we will find some form of closure."

Maryann Margolies said she suggested specific ways she believed she and her family could assist the investigation, but she declined to say what they were.

Also attending the meeting with Greenwich police was Greenwich attorney Thomas J. Williams, who has been retained by the Margolies family to provide legal advice pertaining to Matthew's case.

"It is unfortunate that this horrific crime has remained unsolved for 16 years because Matthew and his family are entitled to justice," Williams said. "In our recent meeting with the Greenwich Police Department, the department confirmed to us its determination to pursue this case and bring it to a resolution. I am hopeful that determination will continue until such time that there is an arrest."

With success, Greenwich police may be able to lessen the pain Stella Miazga feels on her future birthdays.

"My hopes are we can bring this to a successful conclusion," Robbins said. "But it's not going to be easy. It's going to take a lot of time and a lot of work."

02/11/00 Matthew Margolies: Mother Recounts Son's Life

By Peter Moore -- Greenwich Post

Since a site dedicated to Matthew Margolies went up on the Internet, the response has been a blessing for his mother Maryann. But by adding her own personal touch, she says she was able to let web surfers know that Matthew was something far more than a 13-year-old victim of a senseless crime. He was a person.

Maryann recently arranged for a story she wrote, "A Legacy of Love," accompanied by photographs of Matthew, to be posted at www.matthewmargolies.com. Five web pages long, the story tells of a life short in length, but full of spirit.

Maryann's story is one of the latest additions to a website created and maintained by Tom Alessi, a Stamford 911 facilities manager, who maintains two sites dedicated to unsolved murders that have taken place in Greenwich. Alessi's other site profiles the case of his childhood friend Martha Moxley, a Greenwich teen who was bludgeoned to death with a golf club in 1975.

"I asked Tom Alessi to post [the story] on the Internet because I wanted my son to have an identity," Maryann said Monday. "I think that except for the people who have known him, [Matthew] probably had been looked upon as a victim without an identity. And there's been such a response on the Internet that I wanted people to get a feeling of who he really was as a human being, as a person."

The person Maryann described lived from Jan. 24, 1971 until Aug. 31, 1984. And though Matthew's murder by an unknown assailant in the Pemberwick section of Greenwich has generated far more media attention than the happenings of his life, "A Legacy of Love," does not discuss the time surrounding his death at length.

Instead, Maryann Margolies talks of her son's love of nature and uses his example to touch the net surfer's heart and remind him or her of ways to achieve inner happiness.

"Given a choice, he would always prefer to be outdoors," she writes of Matthew. "The warmth of the sun, the wetness of the rain and the coldness of the snow would all nourish his spirit. He found joy in all of it. How long has it been since you last listened to the soft music made by fresh falling snow or perhaps the deeper sounds of rain?"

She describes Matthew as a decent student, specifically mentioning books he wrote at school with titles such as "Tombstone Ghost," "Fishing" and "Merry Christmas." These books still lie on the shelves of Maryann Margolies' house where she resides with her husband Jim.

At the time of his death, Matthew was due to begin eighth grade at Western Middle School. He disappeared on Aug. 31, 1984 and his body was found five days later in a wooded hilly area near Hawthorne and Greenway Street. He had been stabbed with a boning knife and asphyxiated and his body had been left in a shallow grave. There has never been an arrest in the killing.

"I've always had hope in that at some point, whoever was responsible for my son's death would be identified and that justice would be served," Maryann Margolies said Monday.

When Martha Moxley's neighbor Michael Skakel was arrested on Jan. 19 for Martha's murder, Maryann said the arrest did not influence her hope of an eventual arrest in her son's case. But she did say that the arrest proved that there is no way of time completely standing in the way of justice.

"I think that what has happened within Martha's case supports the fact that it's never too late," she says.

In her story, Maryann also writes of the joy Matthew received at the times of holidays, particularly Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and Halloween. A picture of Matthew in a Halloween costume accompanies the story.

She also mentions Matthew's fondness for hats on a page which includes a photo of Matthew atop a fire engine, wearing the traditional red firefighter's hat. Matthew's love of sports, especially fishing is also brought to light.

"He was quite the sportsman and many a man learned from him," she says.

She also mentions remembering Matthew with a positive outlook.

"Not a day passes, that I do not think of Matthew," she writes. "It seems clear that his life ended as it began, with a struggle. However, it is his life that I have had to focus upon. I can see his smile and hear his laughter. I know his love, warmth and caring ways. God has shown his love and bestowed his blessing in choosing me to be Matthew's mother."

Matthew's mother concludes "A Legacy of Love," by urging busy grownups to take time for their little ones. She explained the passage Monday.

"I think that it would be part of a living memorial to Matthew in order for people to take the time to tell their child that they love them," she said. "With both parents working and all the changes, people are always rushing around. It's important for parents to take the time, tell their children how they feel and above all, take the time to listen to them."

The story's final paragraph reads, in part: "If you have read this, please take the time to tell a child how much you love him/her. Chase rainbows, and if you can't find one, then make it! (Ingredients: a little sun, a garden hose and some running water) The reward: FUN, LAUGHTER AND LOADS OF LOVE IN BEING TOGETHER!"

02/10/00 EDITORIAL: ANOTHER OLD MURDER WAITS TO BE SOLVED

Greenwich Time

THE ISSUE: Developments in the Moxley case serve to underline the lack of an arrest in the killing of another teen.

The well-publicized arrest of a suspect in the 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley is a painful reminder to some townspeople that another slaying involving a Greenwich teen remains unsolved. For townspeople who rememberthe 1984 case involving 13-year-old Matthew Margolies, the lack of resolution is especially troubling in a community that has a reputation as a safe place to raise children.

A police investigation into the Margolies killing was reopened in 1998, but the mystery continues. For more than 15 years, questions have gone unanswered about what happened to the boy after he left his Glenville home to go fishing on August 31, 1984. His partially clad, stabbed and strangled body was discovered in a shallow grave near the Byram River five days later. Nearby was a boning knife that police believe was the murder weapon.

The single biggest similarity for the two cases is obvious: Both murders involved teens who were brutally murdered in places that residents considered to be safe.

But the differences are substatial, and some observers may find them telling. Martha Moxley's body was found on the grounds of her well-to-do family's Belle Haven mansion; Matthew Margolies remains were unearthed in a wooded area some distance from the working-class home where his mother still livesin Glenville. Dorthy Moxley, Martha's mother, spent years as an activist seeking justice, talking with receptive media representatives to press law enforcement officials to identify and charge her daughter's killer; Maryann Margolies, while cooperative and interested in the same kind of resolution, has not been able to elicit the same kind of interest.

The biggest fifference may involve the slaying suspects, which in turn may explain the amount of attention these bereaved mothers and the murder cases have received. Suspects in the Moxley case were members of the Skakel family, neighbors of the slain girl, who are related to the Kennedy family by marrage. The man who has been charged in her murder is Michael Skakel, 39, the nephew of the widow of Robert Kennedy. Police have not identified a suspect in the Margolies case.

After Mr. Skakel's arrest last month, Mrs. Margolies told staff writer Ryan Jockers, "I don't think it's done intentionally ...but the stark riality is that fame and fortune are factors to be considered." For her part, Mrs. Moxley told Mr. Jockers that Matthew Margolies should "get her story out".

The arrest in the Moxley slaying indicates that resolution of old murder cases needn't be considered forever stymied. Importantly, there are other factors involved in the Margolies case. Greenwich Police Chief Peter Robbins was the lieutenant who supervised the department's initial investigation, and he has said he wants to do all that is possible to identify the boy's killer and bring that individual to trial. Many townspeople who lived in Greenwich in 1984 recall the slaying and continue to be quietly outraged that it could occur within their community.

Beyond that, Mrs. Margolies has remained optimistic that an arrest ultimately will be made in the death of her son. That quiet confidence in the face of an unimaginable tragety is complling. We can only hope that in time authorities will solve the mystery of the awful killing of Matthew Margolies and bring his murderer to justice.

01/25/00 A mother seeks justice in town's ‘other murder’

By Ryan Jockers - Greenwich Time

With the recent arrest in a long-unsolved murder of a Greenwich teenager, a similar case remains unsolved. This case, however, is far removed from an exclusive waterfront community, Kennedy relatives and a popular young girl from California.

And while the case of Matthew Margolies, who was 13 in 1984 when he was found in a shallow grave on a secluded hillside outside his Glenville neighborhood, does not have the made-for-television elements of the 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley, his case is equally as compelling. Thus far, no one has been arrested for killing the boy.

Michael Skakel, now 39, a former neighbor of Moxley, was arrested last week after the state, in a last-ditch attempt to solve the crime, invoked a seldom-used grand jury statute that found probable cause to arrest him after an 18-month investigation. Skakel surrendered to the murder charge but maintains his innocence through his attorney, Michael Sherman of Stamford.

Maryann Margolies, Matthew's mother, who lives in the same home in which she last saw her son, said yesterday that the idea of a grand jury investigating her son's murder was appealing, though she has not taken steps to initiate such action.

Until State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict applied for and received approval from a three-judge panel in New Haven to appoint a one-man grand jury in 1998 to investigate Moxley's death, Margolies said she was unaware the option existed.

"It's appealing because obviously it led to an arrest in the Moxley case, and very well could lead to an arrest in my son's case," Margolies said in the living room of her home, decorated with photographs of Matthew. "But I'm not rushing into anything. I guess I'm rather cautious. I like to have details. I like to think things through."

The Greenwich Police Department began to reinvestigate the murder of Matthew Margolies in June 1998, the same month the Moxley grand jury convened.

In an interview with Greenwich Time in September, Greenwich Police Chief Peter Robbins said the reinvestigation of the 1984 murder was moving slowly but he expected it to build momentum after the department settled down after a major reorganization of personnel. Calling the work environment at the time stable, Robbins said of the Margolies case, "We're really going to have to pick things up and get going."

Robbins could not be reached yesterday for comment for this article.

Robbins, who supervised the Margolies investigation as a lieutenant, has shown optimism toward solving the case in various interviews with Greenwich Time. Yesterday, Maryann Margolies said she, too, is optimistic that an arrest will ultimately be made in her son's murder.

"I think there is light at the end of the tunnel," she said.

According to police, Matthew Margolies set out on the afternoon of Aug. 31, 1984, from his Pilgrim Drive home to go fishing in the Byram River, which had become a pastime for the boy. Police said they believe the boy was killed the same afternoon by someone who repeatedly stabbed and strangled him. The boy's partially nude body was discovered five days later in a wooded area near the river. A boning knife believed to be the murder weapon was found a short distance from the body.

Shortly after the murder, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Behavioral Science Unit profiled Margolies' killer as a white male familiar with Glenville, who knew Margolies as well as the victim's passion for fishing.

In 1986 the town paid an independent consultant to review the Police Department's investigation. That analysis further characterized the murderer as a sadist who lured the victim to a secluded area where he would be able to act out his gory fantasies.

Before reinvestigating the Margolies case, police tracked down occasional leads but the murder of a working-class family's only son did not attract as much attention as the Moxley case. Moxley was bludgeoned to death outside her family's mansion in the affluent Belle Haven section of town with a golf club belonging to a set owned by the prominent Skakel family.

The Moxley case maintained a high profile as Michael Skakel and his older brother Thomas, the prime suspect in the case for many years, are nephews of Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy. Michael and Thomas Skakel, then 15 and 17, respectively, were with Moxley the night she was killed. Thomas Skakel has also denied any wrongdoing.

The Moxley case was the subject of two nonfiction books, the inspiration for a novel and subsequent television miniseries, and provided fodder for numerous talk shows and other television programs. In books and at a Web site devoted to the Moxley murder, the Margolies case has been referred to as "Greenwich's other unsolved murder."

"I don't think it's done intentionally," Margolies said. "I'd like to live in a naive bubble but the stark reality is that fame and fortune are factors to be considered."

Margolies, who works in a nursing capacity for the city of Stamford, said more media attention in her son's murder case "would only be helpful." Dorthy Moxley, mother of Martha Moxley, said her advice to the Margolies would be to "get her story out" to people.

Investigators and journalists who have covered the Moxley case have said that if not for Dorthy Moxley's persistence in keeping the story of her murdered daughter's death in the news, it would have faded into obscurity.

"I don't see how someone could commit a horrible crime and not tell somebody, and that somebody might be willing to tell," Moxley said yesterday from her home in Chatham Township, N.J. "Talk to the media; do television if you can. I know it's hard, but do it, and maybe someday you'll reap some success."

07/05/98 New probe of 14-year-old Margolies murder begins

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

The renewed investigation into the unsolved 1984 murder of 13-year-old Glenville resident Matthew Margolies is under way.

After a recent review of the extensive but dormant Margolies case file, a Greenwich detective began conducting interviews two weeks ago to officially launch the renewed murder probe.

"We've started some interviews, Detective Division Captain James Walters said Thursday. He would not disclose whether those questioned included suspects. According to police, more than 60 people were initially identified as possible suspects, a number that was whittled down to about a dozen, some of whom remain under suspicion.

The reinvestigation of the Margolies case was announced in May, when Police Chief Peter Robbins revealed his department was planning to launch an all-out effort to find out who nearly 14 years ago sadistically murdered Margolies and buried him in a shallow grave beside the Byram River.

Though police followed up on occasional leads in the case, the murder of the only son of a working-class family has not been as actively investigated as has the case of Martha Moxley, a 15-year-old who was bludgeoned to death outside her family's mansion in the affluent Belle Haven section of town in 1975.

The Moxley case has maintained a high profile because two nephews of the late U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy are among the murder suspects. The case has been the subject of two recently published books, the inspiration for a novel and subsequent television miniseries, as well as fodder for numerous talk shows and other television programs. A reinvestigation of the Moxley case was launched in 1991, and last month a grand jury was appointed to probe the matter.

Robbins was promoted captain and placed in charge of the Detective Division three months after Margolies was killed. For reasons he would not explain, Robbins said he had been unable to pursue the case as vigorously as he had wanted. But in a May interview, Robbins said that as a result of his appointment as chief eight months earlier, he found himself in a position to do things with the investigation he previously could not.

On Thursday, the police chief said he remained optimistic the case would be solved.

I just think that it's a solvable case, but I don't want to go into why I believe that at this time," Robbins said.

The victim's mother, Maryann Margolies, who still lives in Glenville, has declined comment on the reopening of her son's case.

According to Walters, there have been no new developments that warranted the renewed investigation, but he said it was hoped that advances in forensic science since the 1984 slaying would play a pivotal role in identifying the youth's killer.

"We're going to re-evaluate all the evidence to see if they should be submitted for further forensic analysis," he said. "There is a substantial body of evidence in this case."

In addition to a knife found near Margolies' body, believed to be the murder weapon, Walters said the initial investigation recovered trace evidence. Although he would not disclose what was recovered, trace evidence can include hair, clothing fibers, semen, or any other physical evidence a killer leaves at the crime scene.

No fingerprints were found on the alleged murder weapon, as the knife was exposed to rain during the five days Margolies' body went undiscovered.

According to police, Margolies set out the afternoon of August 31, 1984 from his Pilgrim Drive home to go fishing in the Byram River. Police said they believed the boy was killed the same afternoon by someone who repeatedly stabbed and strangled him. The boy's partially nude body was discovered five days later in a wooded area near the river. The boning knife believed to be the murder weapon was found a short distance. from the body.

Shortly after the murder, the FBIis Behavioral Science unit profiled Margolies' killer as a white male familiar with Glenville, who knew Margolies as well as the victim's passion for fishing. In a town funded 1986 paid consultant's critique of the Police Department's investigation, the murderer was further characterized as a sadist who lured his victim to a secluded area where he would be able to act out his gory fantasies.

Walters said no time limit has been set on the renewed investigation, "The investigation isn't going to be limited by time constraints," he said. "We will spend whatever time is necessary to follow all leads and review all the evidence to further the investigation as far as we can."