In A dramatic twist to a 24-year-old unsolved murder, a nephew of Ms Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert Kennedy, has been arrested and charged with the killing.
Mr Michael Skakel yesterday turned himself over to the police in Bridgeport, Connecticut, after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest for the murder of Martha Moxley, who was aged 15 when she was found battered to death in October 1975.
Ms Moxley's body was found in the grounds of her house which was near that of the wealthy Skakel family. Mr Skakel, who was then 15, was said to be one of the last persons to have seen her alive. He and his 17-year-old brother, Thomas, were interviewed at length by the police and were regarded as possible suspects.
Ms Moxley, who had visited the Skakel home on Halloween, 1975, was found the next morning beaten with a 6-iron golf club and stabbed in the throat with a piece of the club's shattered shaft. The club was matched with a set in the Skakel household but no one was charged.
The murder inquiry was revived in 1998 when Superior Court Judge George Thim investigated the case as a one-man grand jury and interviewed more than 40 witnesses.
His report, seen by Associated Press, says that there is "probable cause" to support an application for a murder arrest warrant.
Police went to the Florida home of Mr Skakel to arrest him yesterday but he had already left to fly to Bridgeport to hand himself over to the police.
Mr Michael Sherman, who is Mr Skakel's lawyer, said his client was innocent.
Mrs Dorthy Moxley, mother of the murdered girl, said she hoped the report of the judge would lead to a prosecution.
Prosecutors filed court documents during the judge's secret investigation in which they claimed Mr Skakel had made "admissions as to the murder of Martha Moxley" while living at a drugs treatment centre from 1978 to 1980.