Most people today have forgotten the name Dorothy Kilgallen. Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was born to a news reporter, James Lawrence Kilgallen, and quickly followed as an investigative reporter in her father’s footsteps.
Before turning 18, Dorothy joined the Hearst Corporation and wrote articles for the New York Evening Journal. Her pieces consisted of celebrity news, politics, and organized crime.
In 1936, Kilgallen competed with two of her newspaper colleagues in a competition to race around the world in 80 days. Although she came in second, Dorothy used her experience to write her first book, Girl Around the World.
Kilgallen then finds interest in the case of Dr. Sam Sheppard, who purportedly murdered his wife. When Sheppard’s attorney, F. Lee Bailey, heard of Kilgallen’s evidence, he obtained a deposition with her research and included it in his petition. Sheppard left jail soon afterward, was retried, and acquitted of all charges.
But Kilgallen was just getting started. She and her husband hosted many parties and invited stars like Jane Mansfield, Lucille Ball, John F. Kennedy, and other high-ranking politicians. During one of these parties, JFK and Kilgallen started a friendship. Sometime later, Kilgallen’s youngest son, Kerry, collected letters from school and delivered them to the White House. Touched by Kerry’s sentiment, JFK read all the letters. Kilgallen remarked to the president, “Not only did you make a friend, you made a new Democrat.”
Thus, on the day that shots rang out from Dealey Plaza in Dallas and JFK was pronounced dead, Kilgallen demanded answers for her friend. After the Warren Commission issued their report about the assassination, which asserted that Oswald acted alone, Kilgallen became suspicious and published her comments and the report before President Johnson could look at it.
That act turned heads, and the FBI demanded the name of the person who leaked the report to Kilgallen, but she refused. Under J. Edgar Hoover’s direction, the FBI started following Kilgallen and tapped her friends’ phones. Soon after, Kilgallen told people she worried about Kerry’s life and bought a gun for protection.
But, again, Kilgallen pressed on and became friends with Jack Ruby’s lawyer and convinced him to let her interview Ruby. The first encounter with Ruby lasted only eight minutes and occurred during a recess in court. No one knows what Ruby told her, but the meeting was the launching point for her book about the assassination. Kilgallen told her close friend and hairdresser, “If the wrong people knew what I know, my life would be in danger.”
Research shows that Kilgallen met with many people in secret meetings and even had drinks with a mobster, Carlos Marcello, who provided information that may have resulted in her demise.
Kilgallen tapes a “What’s My Line” episode the night before her death. At the end of the show, a loudspeaker announced that Kilgallen had a call from her current lover, Ron Pataky, asking to meet her at the bar of the Regency Hotel. Reluctantly, Kilgallen meets him—afterward, details of her investigation leak to the public, and her relationship with Pataky sours.
The following day, Marc Sinclair, Kilgallen’s close friend and hairdresser, arrives at her home around 8:45 AM. When Sinclair reached Kilgallen’s bedroom, he found it empty. To Sinclair’s surprise, Kilgallen is in a bedroom she never used. Adding to the confusion, he found Kilgallen sitting in bed with her false lashes and wig still on. She also wore an extravagant negligee.
That struck Sinclair as odd, as Kilgallen was known to wear old socks and pajamas around the house. She also removed all her makeup and hair pieces before retiring to bed. The air conditioner on a cold morning also added to the staged crime scene. Sinclair also noted that her reading glasses were missing, but a book lay upside down beside her. Lastly, a cocktail and a bottle of sleeping pills sat out of reach from her nightstand.
The authorities determined Kilgallen’s death as either suicide or an accidental overdose. However, Sinclair reveals that Kilgallen was not addicted to drugs and was not an excessive drinker. The authorities reported that her research on the JFK assassination and the manuscript from her book had disappeared.
Recent toxicology reports find that Kilgallen had three barbiturates in her system. The lethal dosage is enough to solidify author Mark Shaw’s suspicion of murder. Through extensive research and interviews, Shaw has petitioned Manhattan’s District Attorney to reopen Kilgallen’s case and bring her the justice she deserves.
If you’d like to learn more about Mark Shaw’s investigation, please visit my Facebook page and find the links to further evidence about the conspiracy that may have killed a President and an ace reporter who doggedly hunted for the truth.
Talk soon!
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