Peter McGuire Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 (edited) For the complete article dated August 31, 2010, go here: http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html WHO KILLED DOROTHY KILGALLEN? By Sara Jordan Born in Chicago, she became a New York journalist and popular game show panelist. But her mysterious death still troubles a legion of fans who won't forget this remarkable woman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- During her 35-year career as a gossip columnist, crime reporter and panelist on the weekly TV game show, "What's My Line?," Dorothy Kilgallen ("Dolly Mae" to her friends), was a fearless journalist who broke major stories, and was the only reporter to interview Lee Harvey Oswald's killer, Jack Ruby. Her biggest case yet -- investigating President John F. Kennedy's assassination, and finding fault with the official story -- became the last one she ever pursued. She died mysteriously in November 1965, after being threatened, but the cops never probed further. Thanks to reruns on the Game Show Network, fans are still talking about Dorothy, including Larry King of CNN, and Dominick Dunne, who wrote about her in Vanity Fair. Now, shocking new information has emerged. There's No Statute of Limitations for Prosecuting Murder What to make of all this? What man in Dorothy's life was so important, and knew her so well, that he could call her at home on a Sunday night just before she left for the TV show, and make a late date with her for which she rushed to change her wardrobe at the last minute? Dorothy obviously knew the man she met at the hotel or she wouldn't have sat so close to him. If this person's encounter with her was so innocent, and did not have sinister implications connected to her death, why has nobody ever come forth to admit he was there with her (as Bob Bach did at P.J. Clarke's)? Though she had been drinking, Dorothy was apparently functional enough to call Western Union at 2:20 a.m. and sound normal. She may have made the call from the hotel, (there was a bank of phones near the bar), having already left her column in the entryway at her residence, and remained in the bar for awhile longer. Since it was estimated that she died between 2 and 4 a.m., that really leaves only an hour and a half for her to have become intoxicated. (She had a blood alcohol level of 0.15. Based on her weight, this represents four to six drinks. She was legally drunk at 0.10.) Since the barbiturates found in Dorothy's system take a half hour to an hour to start working and then reach a dangerous peak level, this implies she consumed them between 2:30 and 3 a.m. The authorities should have pinned down her whereabouts at that time. As Lee Israel told this magazine, ordinarily in the case of a woman's suspicious death, the police would "go out and at least ask pro forma questions of the people who were around her the night before." But the New York cops "did nothing. I mean nothing." The lead detective on the case, who had six children, abruptly resigned from the NYPD without a pension a short time later, moved out of town, and opened a pricey restaurant. Dorothy's favorite mixed drink, which she'd ordered that last night, included tonic, which contains quinine. Quinine has long been used by murderers to disguise the bitter taste of barbiturates. If someone slipped her a "mickey," she could have been too intoxicated to notice. The Regency was seven blocks from her townhouse but nobody knows how she got home. It makes sense she would have gone to her dressing room and removed her dress, because she had a big closet there. It is plausible that given her blood alcohol level, the symptoms of which can include impaired balance, movement, coordination, walking or talking, she decided to lie down in the nearest bed. She may even have felt hot from the alcohol, so turned on the air conditioner. But why would she have first put on clothes she didn't normally wear, and grab a book to read without her eyeglasses? The best evidence to suggest that the several drugs found in Dorothy's blood were not self-administered is that only one drug, the one she normally took, was on the glass on the nightstand. It's pretty clear that Dorothy Kilgallen's overdose did not happen in response to her having insomnia and then taking too many barbiturates. If sleeplessness had really been the problem that night, before she'd resorted to taking any additional meds, why wouldn't she have done first the things that would have made her more comfortable to begin with, such as remove her earrings, false eyelashes and especially the hairpiece that she wore in back (rather than having to lie on it)? And remember the question that Dorothy had asked about Marilyn Monroe's death: "If she were just trying to get to sleep, and took the overdose of pills accidentally, why was the light on? Usually people sleep better in the dark." Dorothy's light was on. As the medication took hold, Kilgallen would first experience bradycardia, or slow heart rate, the classic symptoms of which are fainting, dizziness or lightheadedness. This is on top of being drunk. One scenario is that she may have collapsed before she had a chance to put on more clothes, and injured her shoulder. Richard may have heard this, or she might have even summoned him on the intercom. (The household staff had the night off.) He might have thought she just had too much to drink. He couldn't leave her like that, so perhaps he grabbed an outfit to put on her. He could have propped her up in bed, maybe because she complained of nausea. (A pink liquid was found in her stomach but was never analyzed. Pepto-Bismol, perhaps?) He could have assumed she'd sleep it off. But why lock the door and what was in the note? Dick Kollmar told inconsistent stories to the police. In one version, he claimed that Dorothy had returned from "What's My Line?" at 11:30 p.m. "feeling chipper," that she "went in to write [her] column," that he had said goodnight and then gone to bed. Dorothy's inquiry into Jack Ruby's ties to the mob, and her relentless exploration of the Warren Report's gross inadequacies, threatened to expose dark secrets that powerful people both in and out of government did not want revealed. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act confirm that the FBI perceived her exposés as enough of a threat that they monitored her closely. Incredibly, the CIA had 53 field offices around the world watching her on her foreign travels. Given this context, it is hard to see her untimely death as a mere accident. There is no statute of limitations on murder, and there are enough people alive who could be questioned. But will there be enough interest by the powers that be to pursue this? As Dorothy once reflected, "Justice is a big rug. When you pull it out from under one person, a lot of others fall, too." Justice needs to be done in this case. Copyright 2007 by Midwest Today. All rights reserved. Edited September 1, 2010 by Peter McGuire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Scully Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 That article is at least three years old...they use a date update script to display the current date, everyday. Copyright on the bottom is 2007. http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html&hl=en&safe=off&filter=0'>http://www.google.com/search?q=%22education+forum%22+http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html&hl=en&safe=off&filter=0I still think Dorothy Kilgallen was murdered. - The Education Forum 15 posts - 9 authors - Last post: Oct 29, 2008 http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html.'>http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html. Go to the top of the page. + Quote Post · Dawn Meredith. Rating: 4 ... educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?act=findpost&pid=97891 I still think Dorothy Kilgallen was murdered. - The Education Forum 2 posts - 2 authors - Last post: Oct 22, 2007 http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html.'>http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html. Quote from Midwest Today article: "One of the biggest scoops of Kilgallen's career ... educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9609&mode... Ron Pataky - The Education Forum 15 posts - 8 authors - Last post: Mar 25, 2009 A researcher has sent me a news clipping from an article by Dorothy Kilgallen ..... http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html ... educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6437...p... - Cached Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernice Moore Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 KILGALLEN INFO...WHAT'S MY LINE REGULARS.. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernice Moore Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 MONTAGNE; MM.KILGALLEN.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now