We Keep the Dead Close

by Becky Cooper

  35 walked into the hallway: Jim and Don’s memories differ slightly here. This is Jim’s recollection per his police transcript (CPD-JH, p. 8). Don remembers already being in the hallway, carrying out a piece of cardboard when he met Humphries (CPD-DM, p. 6).

  36 “Is Jane home?” “I guess so.”: CPD-JH, p. 8.

  37 “Well, she didn’t take her quiz”: CPD-DM, p. 7. Don told police he distinctly recalled Jim’s phrasing because the generals were too big an examination to be called a quiz.

  38 Don’s face changed: CPD-JH, p. 64.

  39 He encouraged Jim to go in and check: CPD-DM, p. 7.

  40 Jim knocked…“Can I come in?”: CPD-JH, p. 65.

  41 Don waited by the door: CPD-DM, p. 8.

  42 Jim felt a cold gust of air coming from the kitchen: CPD-JH, p. 33.

  43 the window was wide open: CPD-JH, p. 32.

  44 certain it hadn’t been open the night before: CPD-JH, p. 31.

  45 Jim reached his head back: CPD-DM, p. 66.

  46 she thought there was a gas leak in her kitchen: CPD-JM 1, p. 23.

  47 screen had long ago rotted off: CPD-JM 1, p. 23.

  48 room was its usual homey mess: CPD crime scene photos; interview with Don Mitchell in 2017.

  49 A turtle tank: Interview with Don Mitchell in 2017.

  50 brandy bottles: Photo by Don Mitchell.

  51 Ceramic owls: CPD-IK, p. 48.

  52 painted cats, giraffes, and owls: “Cambridge Murder Victim Is Recalled as Intelligent and Witty,” New York Times, Jan. 19, 1969.

  53 not until he fully walked into the apartment: CPD-JH, p. 69.

  54 right leg: CPD-JH, p. 70 (at least one foot on the ground); CPD-DM, p. 9 (Don remembers right leg).

  55 directly on the floor: “The Case of the Unlocked Door to Death,” Pictorial Living Coloroto Magazine, Apr. 13, 1969.

  56 blue flannel nightgown: Susan Kelly, the author of The Boston Stranglers (New York: Pinnacle Books, 2002), researched, for a time, the Jane Britton case. In the late ’90s, she interviewed a number of people close to Jane. Some of her notes and letters became part of Jane’s police file. This detail is from Susan Kelly’s letter to John Fulkerson, July 25, 1996.

  57 pulled up to her waist: CPD-JH, p. 70.

  58 He didn’t try to shake her: CPD-JH, p. 9.

  59 “a woman’s job”: CPD-JH, p. 93.

  60 She needed to lie on her bed. She felt sick: CPD-JM 1, p. 11.

  61 bolt of guilt: Interview with Don Mitchell in 2017.

  62 Above her waist: CPD-JH, p. 93; p. 36.

  63 sheepskin rugs: Interview with Don Mitchell in 2017; Elisabeth Handler confirmed that Jane had sheepskin rugs in a 2017 interview.

  64 until he could see the back of her head: CPD-DM, p. 10.

  65 He didn’t turn her over: CPD-DM, p. 10.

  66 no question: CPD-DM, p. 11.

  It Begins

  1 mention of a cigarette butt: “Police Examine Ochre Found Near Slaying Victim,” Boston Globe, Jan. 10, 1969.

  2 vice president of administration at Radcliffe College: “Cambridge Murder Victim Is Recalled as Intelligent and Witty,” New York Times, Jan. 19, 1969; cross-checked in the Schlesinger Library Archives.

  3 single mention of a grand jury hearing: “Grand Jury to Hear Britton Case,” Boston Globe, Jan. 29, 1969.

  4 “I came here to be of whatever assistance”: “Harvard Girl Brutally Slain in Apartment,” Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 1969.

  5 in the New York Times: Professor Lamberg-Karlovsky pacing: “Cambridge Murder Victim Is Recalled as Intelligent and Witty,” New York Times, Jan. 19, 1969. The lover of Bach detail is from this article, as well.

  6 accomplished horseback rider: Here through “excelled at Dana Hall,” “Jane’s Home Town Not Used to This Kind of Thing,” Daily News, Jan. 11, 1969.

  7 “Peculiar travel suggestions are like”: “Portrait of Jane Britton,” New York Post, Jan. 9, 1969, quoting Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle (New York: Dial Press Trade Paperback, 2010), p. 63.

  8 favorite was from The Sirens of Titan: “Cambridge Murder Victim Is Recalled as Intelligent and Witty,” New York Times, Jan. 19, 1969.

  9 “had a kind of insight”: “Cambridge Murder Victim Is Recalled as Intelligent and Witty,” New York Times, Jan. 19, 1969.

  10 “If justice be cruel”: “Portrait of Jane Britton,” New York Post, Jan. 9, 1969.

  11 “vulnerable person”…“hangers-on and acid heads”: “Cambridge Murder Victim Is Recalled as Intelligent and Witty,” New York Times, Jan. 19, 1969.

  12 talk of a secret abortion: “Murder Quiz Finds Jane Had Abortion,” Daily News, Jan. 13, 1969.

  13 “It is not possible to characterize”: “Cambridge Murder Victim Is Recalled as Intelligent and Witty,” New York Times, Jan. 19, 1969.

  14 one of the Iranian expedition monographs: CCLK foreword, p. XXXI.

  The Cops Arrive

  1 Detectives William Durette, Michael Giacoppo, and Fred Centrella: “Harvard Coed Viciously Slain in Cambridge,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 8, 1969. Detective Michael Giacoppo’s full name is Matthew Michael Giacoppo. I refer to him as M. Michael Giacoppo in these source notes to differentiate him from his son, Michael D. Giacoppo.

  2 cat skittered out: “Harvard Coed, 23, Beaten to Death,” Daily News, Jan. 8, 1969.

  3 Valuables…lay untouched: “Harvard Girl Brutally Slain in Apartment: Radcliffe Vice President’s Daughter,” Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 1969.

  4 no signs of a struggle: “Police Seek Coed’s Killer,” Bridgeport Post, Jan. 8, 1969.

  5 Two of Jane’s windows were open: “Harvard Coed, 23, Beaten to Death,” Daily News, Jan. 8, 1969.

  6 eighteen-man Bureau of Criminal Investigations: “Harvard Coed, 23, Beaten to Death,” Daily News, Jan. 8, 1969.

  7 acting chief of the homicide division: “Harvard Graduate Student Bludgeoned to Death,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  8 publicly dismiss the significance of these open windows: “Harvard Coed, 22, Found Slain: Daughter of Radcliffe Exec Beaten on Head,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 8, 1969.

  9 [Photo]: Mel Finkelstein/New York Daily News.

  10 “class of brass”: David Degou, Cambridge Police Department (Mount Pleasant: Arcadia Publishing, 2009), p. 84.

  11 survived a hammer attack in her home…curlers that saved her: “Coed’s Friend Nixes Lie Test,” Daily News, Jan. 9, 1969.

  12 Davenport himself had been assigned: “Harvard Coed, 22, Found Slain: Daughter of Radcliffe Exec Beaten on Head,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 8, 1969.

  13 The case remains open: Kelly, The Boston Stranglers; interview with Sergeant William Doogan in 2020.

  14 shortly after the detectives: “Harvard Girl Brutally Slain in Apartment,” Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 1969.

  15 sitting in the Mitchells’ apartment: Interview with Don Mitchell in 2017.

  16 surveyed the room at the police’s request…“She was a good girl”: “Harvard Girl Brutally Slain in Apartment,” Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 1969.

  17 Detective Giacoppo…dusted the apartment for fingerprints: Report to Daniel I. Murphy, Captain of Detectives by Det. Lt. Joyce of MSP, June 2, 1969; and Report of Lt. David Desmond re: Thumb Print on Ashtray May 29, 1969 (MSP file).

  18 lying about his age to fight in World War II: Interview with Michael D. Giacoppo in 2018.

  19 processing and crime scene photographing the next day: Report of Asst. Chemist Joseph Lanzetta, Apr. 1, 1969 (MSP file).

  20 He did not find a weapon: Report of Asst. Chemist Joseph Lanzetta, Apr. 1, 1969 (MSP file). The list of items collected as evidence does not include a weapon.

  21 superintendent’s seven-year-old daughter: Report by Det. Centrella (Priscilla Joyce interview), Jan. 7, 1969 (CPD file).

  22 beer from her fridge: Report of Statement by Donald Mitchell, Jan. 7, 1969 (CPD file).

  23 home at 12:15 a.m.: “Police Seeking Massachusetts Axe Murderer,” Pittsburgh Press, Jan. 8, 1969.

&
nbsp; 24 party with her on Saturday: “Neighbors Heard Nothing, Cat Upset,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  25 Stephen, a Harvard law school: “Harvard Coed Is Found Slain,” Kansas City Times, Jan. 8, 1969.

  26 awake until two in the morning…ran a test: “Neighbors Heard Nothing, Cat Upset,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  27 built specifically to be soundproof: “The Cambridge Dormitory,” Cambridge Chronicle, Oct. 2, 1897.

  28 “he was acting wild”: “Neighbors Heard Nothing, Cat Upset,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  29 between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m.: Report to Lt. Davenport by Officer James Lyons (overnight patrol car 6), Jan. 7, 1969; Report to Lt. Davenport by Officer Dennis McCarthy (night patrol car 6), Jan. 7, 1969 (CPD files).

  30 A transit worker said he saw a man: Officer Richard Lyon Police Report re: Patrick Joyce, Jan. 8, 1969 (CPD file).

  31 Ravi Rikhye, twenty-two: Rikhye details from “Police Seek Coed’s Killer,” Bridgeport Post, Jan. 8, 1969, and “Harvard Girl Brutally Slain in Apartment: Radcliffe Vice President’s Daughter,” Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 1969. When I spoke to Rikhye in 2018, he no longer remembered the night with the same detail.

  32 Capello stood outside: Boston Record-American photo, uncredited, Jan. 8, 1969, p. 29.

  33 art deco headquarters: Degou, Cambridge Police, p. 91.

  34 Jane’s parents were among the first interviewed: “Harvard Graduate Student Bludgeoned to Death,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  35 J. Boyd Britton held his hat in one hand: “Harvard Coed, 22, Found Brutally Slain,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 8, 1969.

  36 [Photo]: Dennis Brearley/Boston Record-American. Image courtesy Boston Herald.

  37 examiner tested Don’s and Jill’s hands: Report of Asst. Chemist Joseph Lanzetta, Apr. 1, 1969 (MSP file).

  38 “I—I was cutting up some meat”: Interview with Don Mitchell in 2017.

  39 furrowed into two dark streaks: As shown in the photo on page 24. Leo Tierney/Boston Record-American. Image courtesy Boston Herald.

  40 [Photo]: Leo Tierney/Boston Record-American. Image courtesy Boston Herald.

  Departures

  1 anthropology professors at Buffalo State: Buffalo State website; interview with Don Mitchell in 2017.

  2 had withdrawn from Harvard: “The Case of the Ocher-Covered Corpse,” Boston Magazine, Sept. 1982.

  3 Anthropology 1065: 2012–2013 Courses of Instruction, “Previous Course Offerings,” Registrar’s Office website, Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

  Initial Questioning

  1 No caution tape, no barriers: Interview with Don Mitchell in 2017.

  2 inside the University Road apartment: Here through “What good will an investigation do now?” from “Girls Afraid to Stay Alone,” Boston Herald-Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  3 [Photo]: Stan Forman/Boston Record-American. Image courtesy Boston Herald.

  4 anxious to assist authorities: “Girl Slaying Gets National Attention,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 9, 1969.

  5 “I suppose you’d say I was her boyfriend”: This section (until break) from CPD-JH police transcript.

  6 Shortly before midnight: “Harvard Girl Brutally Slain in the Apartment,” Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 1969.

  7 no visible blood except on the mattress and pillows: Notice of Death form completed by Officer Lyons, Jan. 7, 1969 (CPD file).

  8 the coroner, Dr. Arthur McGovern: “Harvard Graduate Student Bludgeoned to Death,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  9 contusions and lacerations of the brain: Autopsy Report, Drs. George Katsas and Arthur McGovern, undated, but the autopsy was performed at 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 7, 1969 (MSP file).

  10 a four-inch slash across her hairline and an inch-long wound: “Police Probe Vicious Slaying of College Official’s Daughter,” UPI, Jan. 9, 1969.

  11 fatal hit: “Harvard Graduate Student Bludgeoned to Death,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  12 crack her skull: Interview with Don Mitchell in 2017.

  13 “She had been hit from”…blunt and sharp: “Hammer Sought in Coed Slaying,” Baltimore Sun, Jan. 9, 1969.

  14 sharp rock, a hatchet or a cleaver…ball peen hammer: “Harvard Girl Brutally Slain in Apartment,” Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 1969.

  15 not found any clear evidence of sexual assault: “Pretty Graduate Student Found Slain in Apartment,” The Day, Jan. 8, 1969.

  16 pending a more in-depth autopsy: “Harvard Girl Brutally Slain in Apartment,” Boston Globe, Jan. 8, 1969.

  17 compulsively thorough: “Dr. George G. Katsas, 79; Leading Forensic Pathologist,” Boston Globe, June 21, 2001.

  18 for at least a week: “New Medical Tests on Slain Coed Fail,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 15, 1969.

  19 “We have no firm suspects at this time”: “Harvard Graduate Student Bludgeoned to Death,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  20 Humphries had come voluntarily: “Harvard Graduate Student Bludgeoned to Death,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 8, 1969.

  21 “It was someone she knew”: “Quiz Harvard Men in Coed Slaying,” New York Post, Jan. 8, 1969.

  Karl

  1 at Harvard since 1965: CCLK curriculum vitae, available on CCLK’s page on Harvard’s Department of Anthropology website.

  2 early newspaper reports: “Harvard Team Unearths Alexander’s Lost Citadel,” Boston Globe, Nov. 10, 1968; “Archaeological Unit From Harvard Unearths Lost Fortress in Persia,” Harvard Crimson, Nov. 12, 1968.

  3 key trading stop…Proto-Elamite texts: Interview with Dan Potts in 2019; interview with CCLK in 2020.

  4 directing archaeological surveys in Saudi Arabia…thirteen years: CCLK curriculum vitae.

  5 nothing ever surpassed Yahya: CCLK did not dispute this on a 2020 phone call, but he said that he was most proud of having fostered the careers of his graduate students.

  6 while Karl couldn’t dictate the use of funds, he had a major say: Phone call with CCLK in 2020.

  7 the Crimson article: “On Hike, a Life Is Cut Short,” Harvard Crimson, Oct. 24, 2007.

  Red Ochre

  1 Sirhan Sirhan’s trial: “Quiz Harvard Men in Coed Slaying,” New York Post, Jan. 8, 1969.

  2 even Newsweek magazine: “The Riddle of the Red Dust,” Newsweek, Jan. 20, 1969, p. 17.

  3 at home in Colorado…“every day across the country?”: Interview with Brenda Bass in 2016.

  4 [Photo]: Boston Record-American, Jan. 8, 1969, p. 1. Image courtesy Boston Herald.

  5 four reporters: Interviews with Joe Modzelewski (2014) and Mike McGovern (2016). “Four” includes the photographer in the count.

  6 private plane: “Girl Slaying Gets National Headlines,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 9, 1969.

  7 second-floor corridor: “The Cambridge Rambler: The Scene is Changed,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 11, 1969.

  8 two men were being sought: “Police Seek Peru Hippie in Coed Slaying,” Fresno Bee, Jan. 8, 1969.

  9 this man was a faculty member: “Murder Quiz Finds Jane Had Abortion,” Daily News, Jan. 13, 1969.

  10 a gift from Don and Jill Mitchell: “‘Gift’ Rock May Be Cambridge Death Weapon,” Boston Globe, Jan. 9, 1969.

  11 sent men to look: “Police Seek 2 for Quiz in Girl’s Brutal Killing,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 9, 1969.

  12 “minor inconsistencies”: “‘Gift’ Rock May Be Cambridge Death Weapon,” Boston Globe, Jan. 9, 1969.

  13 “peculiar and sinister”: Interview with Laurie Godfrey in 2018.

  14 “swirling horror of interest and speculation”: Interview with Mel Konner in 2017.

  15 what the department secretaries found: Interview with Liz Gude in 2017.

  16 [Photo]: Photograph by Don Mitchell.

  17 “There was a considerable amount of crime”: Interview with Francesco Pellizzi in 2017.

  18 “I think everyone had a heightened sense”: Interview with Mel Konner in 2017.

  19 Speakin
g at the time, Ingrid: “‘Gift’ Rock May Be Cambridge Death Weapon,” Boston Globe, Jan. 9, 1969.

  20 Galligan, a square-faced man with a button nose: Degou, Cambridge Police, p. 27.

  21 “we are leaving no stone”: “Girl Slaying Gets National Headlines,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 9, 1969.

  22 Twenty-three people: “3 to Get Lie Test in Slaying,” Akron Beacon Journal, Jan. 8, 1969.

  23 scheduled lie detector tests: “‘Gift’ Rock May Be Cambridge Death Weapon,” Boston Globe, Jan. 9, 1969.

  24 whom he refused to name: “Police Seek Slayer of Harvard Coed,” Bennington Banner, Jan. 9, 1969.

  25 What some know as iron oxide: For extensive reading on red ochre, see Kate Helwig, “Iron Oxide Pigments” chapter in Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics Volume 4, edited by Barbara Berrie (New York: Archetype Publications, 2007), pp. 39–109.

  26 ceiling and the wall where a headboard might have been: “Coed’s Slayer Went through Ancient Ritual,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 9, 1969; interview with Don Mitchell in 2017; CPD-SW p. 3.

  27 “It was described to me”: Here until the end of this chapter is from “‘Gift’ Rock May Be Cambridge Death Weapon,” Boston Globe, Jan. 9, 1969.

  The Ritual

  1 friendship with the Taylors: Interview with Boyd Britton in 2016.

  2 [Photo]: New York Daily News.

  3 “the fact that apparently”: “Harvard Coed: Mystery Surrounds Slaying,” The Tech (MIT), Jan. 14, 1969.

  4 Francesco Pellizzi later recalled: Interview with Francesco Pellizzi in 2017.

  5 “I mean, who knows”: Interview with Paul Shankman in 2017.

  6 liquid daubed: “Girl Slayer Performed Burial Rite,” Boston Herald Traveler, Jan. 9, 1969.

  7 powder that had been strewn: “Coed’s Slayer Went through Ancient Ritual,” Boston Record-American (evening edition), Jan. 9, 1969.

  8 It was red: “Coed’s Killer Held Weird Rite: Threw Red Powder over Body,” Daily News, Jan. 10, 1969.

  9 mahogany or cocoa-colored: “‘Gift’ Rock May Be Cambridge Death Weapon,” Boston Globe, Jan. 9, 1969.