We Keep the Dead Close

by Becky Cooper

  13 a couple of Neolithic sites: Sites include Ganj Dareh, Chogha Sefid, and Ali Kosh. See, e.g., Abbas Alizadeh, Chogha Mish II: The Development of a Prehistoric Regional Center in Lowland Susiana, Southwestern Iran, Final Report on the Last Six Seasons of Excavation, 1972–1978, Oriental Institute Publications 130 (Chicago: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, 2008).

  14 forbade cremation and burials: For more on Zoroastrian burial practices see Daniel Potts, “Disposal of the Dead in Planquadrat U/V XVIII at Uruk: A Parthian Enigma?” Baghdader Mitteilungen 37 (2006): 270.

  15 the Freshman Register: The Freshman Register: Radcliffe 1967, Radcliffe College, 1967.

  16 All three hundred of them: “How to Pick 300 Effective Human Beings,” Radcliffe Quarterly, June 1969, p. 10.

  17 different until 2000: “So Long, Radcliffe,” Harvard Crimson, Apr. 21, 1999.

  18 an all-male college: The end date of Harvard being an all-male college is hard to say since the merger happened in stages (e.g., Radcliffe students started taking classes with Harvard men in 1943, but it isn’t until 1975 that a joint Harvard-Radcliffe Office of Admissions started admitting male and female undergraduates). Harvard and Radcliffe’s long, drawn-out merger is explored more in a later chapter, but for a detailed history of it, see “Our History,” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University website.

  19 “Hello?” she said: The rest of this chapter is from a 2014 interview with Susan Talbot.

  20 it was still there: True as of the time of the conversation. In October 2019, after more than sixty years, Out of Town News closed.

  Jane

  1 chemist’s analysis: Details in section from Report of Asst. Chemist Joseph Lanzetta, Apr. 1, 1969 (MSP file), unless otherwise indicated.

  2 those sperm cells were intact: Chronology of DNA Investigation, prepared by the MDAO, Oct. 29, 2018, p. 1 (MDAO file).

  3 Officer Giacoppo also found: Report to Det. Lt. Davenport by Det. Ed Colleran re: crime scene, Jan. 8, 1969.

  4 Dr. Katsas’s in-depth autopsy did not comment: Autopsy Report, Drs. George Katsas and Arthur McGovern, Jan. 7, 1969 (MSP file).

  5 on her right arm: Autopsy Report, Drs. George Katsas and Arthur McGovern, Jan. 7, 1969 (MSP file).

  6 Detective Lieutenant Davenport joked: CPD-JC, p. 17.

  7 got the names and addresses: “Notes re: contact for James Humphries, Donald Mitchell, Lee Parsons, and Boyd Britton,” unsigned and undated (CPD file).

  8 obtained a directory: Graduate Students Roster, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, fall term 1967.

  9 her recent phone calls: “Notes of Names Linked to Series of Toll Calls,” unsigned and undated (CPD file).

  10 phone book and diary: “Coed Phone List Fails to Give Clues,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 19, 1969.

  11 three statements: Arthur Bankoff statement, Andrea Bankoff statement, joint statement.

  12 US embassy in Rome: Letter to Lt. Davenport from US Vice Consul-Italy (encl. three letters), Jan. 17, 1969 (CPD file).

  13 “Jane was not the type”: “The Case of the Ocher-Covered Corpse,” Boston Magazine, Sept. 1982.

  14 “I think she’d kick him”: CPD-IK, p. 43.

  15 Jill Mitchell told cops: This paragraph and the following are from CPD-JM 1, pp. 42–44.

  16 “gentleman to the point”: CPD-LI, p. 49.

  17 “I should think that”: CPD-IK, p. 13.

  18 the chemist’s analysis revealed: This section is from Death Certificate by Dr. Arthur McGovern, Jan. 9, 1969 (MSP file). The maroon rugby sweater detail comes from Report by Sgt. Peter Sennott re: Jim Humphries, Oct. 12, 2017 (MSP file).

  19 “What was the attraction?”: Exchange is from CPD-IK, p. 63.

  Do You Follow Me

  1 could not be immediately dismissed: This a condensed version of my research that focused on Theodore (Ted) Wertime, the head of a metallurgical annex team, sponsored by the Smithsonian, that visited Tepe Yahya the same season that Jane was there. It is thanks to Wertime that the Yahya expedition secured US commissary privileges; he worked for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, did further intelligence work for the State Department from 1945 until 1955 (Washington Post obituary, Apr. 16, 1982), and was, for a time, the cultural attaché in Iran; but I ultimately found no evidence connecting his work at Yahya with any intelligence collection. For diligent scholarship on the connection between some anthropologists and the CIA, David Price’s work is excellent.

  2 “I never worked for the US government”: Phone call with CCLK in 2020.

  3 refused to either confirm or deny: Michael Lavergne, Executive Secretary of the Agency Release Panel, CIA, Mar. 18, 2016.

  Jane and Jim

  1 The spring before: Scene based on CPD-IK and CPD-SLI, who both describe this moment––including the dialogue––in their police interviews. Sarah Lee Irwin went by Lee, but I refer to her as Sarah Lee in the book to avoid confusion with another Lee who appears later.

  Radcliffe Memories

  1 original Harvard Crimson article: “Grad Student Killed,” Harvard Crimson, Jan. 8, 1969.

  2 French genealogy website: Geneanet.org.

  3 New York Times obituary: “Paid Notice: Deaths, de Saint Phalle, Virginia,” New York Times, Nov. 6, 2006.

  4 She was eager to help: All following is from interview with Sat Siri Khalsa in 2014.

  Real Estate

  1 “Does it take a murder”: “Tenants Claim Harvard Ignored Building Code,” Harvard Crimson, Jan. 14, 1969. For more on the scrutiny of Harvard’s real estate policies, see “Harvard to Probe No Locks on Doors,” Boston Globe, Jan. 10, 1969; “Harvard Defends Housing,” Boston Globe, Jan. 12, 1969; “Harvard Panel Urges Improved Community Ties,” New York Times, Jan. 14, 1969.

  2 bought the place in 1967: “University Wins Fight to Purchase Building,” Harvard Crimson, May 10, 1967.

  3 residents should not expect renovations: “Booming Biz in Narcotics Jars Harvard,” Daily News, Jan. 12, 1969.

  4 “We tried to request”: “Tenants Claim Harvard Ignored Building Code,” Harvard Crimson, Jan. 14, 1969.

  5 $48.7 million fundraising drive: According to the Daily News, this is a $52 million fundraising drive (“A Shadow of Blight Settles on Hallowed Harvard,” Jan. 14, 1969), but this $48.7 million figure is taken from Peabody Museum Newsletter, summer 1968, p. 1.

  6 young reporter pressed: “Covering Harvard—A View from the Outside,” Harvard Crimson, June 12, 1969. The reporter was Parker Donham.

  7 “With all the problems that Harvard brings”: “Tenants Claim Harvard Ignored Building Code,” Harvard Crimson, Jan. 14, 1969.

  8 real estate company that managed: “University Wins Fight to Purchase Building,” William Galeota, May 10, 1967.

  9 “Due to the recent happenings”: “Front Door Locked at Jane’s Building,” Daily News, Jan. 11, 1969.

  10 give residents the keys: “Slay Site Bldg Gets New Locks,” Boston Record-American, Jan. 11, 1969.

  11 “They just wanted it to die down”: Interview with Joe Modzelewski in 2014.

  12 frozen winter soil: “Slain Student Buried––People Film All at Service,” Boston Globe, Jan. 11, 1969.

  13 A cloudless sky: “Cops & Cameras Study Crowd at Jane’s Rites,” Daily News, Jan. 11, 1969.

  14 performed a brief graveside: “Slain Student Buried––People Film All at Service,” Boston Globe, Jan. 11, 1969.

  15 only time Jane’s father showed emotion: Interviews with Boyd Britton in 2016 and Charlie Britton in 2017.

  16 the sloping hill: “Cops & Cameras Study Crowd at Jane’s Rites,” Daily News, Jan. 11, 1969.

  17 two workmen: “Cops & Cameras Study Crowd at Jane’s Rites,” Daily News, Jan. 11, 1969.

  Elisabeth

  1 At the two-week mark: This chapter is from an interview with Elisabeth in 2014 unless otherwise noted.

  2 “three feet on the ground at all times”: There was no parietal rule worded as such in the R
edbook, but this is how students shorthanded it. See also “More as People than Dating Objects,” Harvard Magazine, Nov.-Dec. 2011.

  3 mandatory skirts and stockings: Redbook: A Guide to Student Living at Radcliffe 1963–1964, edited by Karen Johnson, Radcliffe Government Association, p. 25.

  4 It wasn’t until 1973: “’Cliffe to Yard Shuttle Buses Begin,” Harvard Crimson, Sept. 21, 1973.

  Jane at Radcliffe

  1 That first week of freshman year: This chapter is from an interview with Elisabeth Handler in 2014 unless otherwise noted.

  2 the more difficult of the two: Marcia G. Synnott, “The Changing ‘Harvard Student’: Ethnicity, Race, and Gender,” Yards and Gates: Gender in Harvard and Radcliffe History, edited by Laurel Ulrich (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 297.

  3 green and widely spaced: Susan Kelly notes from interview with Elisabeth Handler, May 24, 1996 (police file).

  4 black it was almost blue: Interview with Brenda Bass in 2016.

  5 built like a brick shithouse: Interview with Bruce Bourque in 2017.

  6 she smoked: Interview with Lucy DuPertuis in 2018.

  7 eschewed hair-sprayed updos: Interview with Irene (duPont) Light in 2016.

  8 She had a low voice: Interview with Jennifer Fowler in 2016.

  9 erupted spontaneously: Email from Cathy Ravinski, Aug. 1, 2017, 10:25 a.m.

  10 cock her thin eyebrows: Interview with Jennifer Fowler in 2016.

  11 Jane slept on the lower bunk: Details of Jane’s freshman-year room from interview with Lucy DuPertuis in 2018.

  12 ironing board and iron: Here through “five hours a week of housework,” from Redbook, p. 19.

  13 “be discreet when sunbathing”…“good taste demands”: Redbook, p. 25.

  14 Smoking was allowed everywhere (except in bed): Redbook, p. 32.

  15 alcohol was forbidden…exceptions were made for sherry: Redbook, p. 85.

  16 the social rules: Redbook, p. 79.

  17 needed to be signed in: Redbook, pp. 82–83.

  18 “Man on!” to alert people: “’Cliffe Parietals Committee Meets for Action on Spring Referendum,” Harvard Crimson, Sept. 25, 1969.

  19 the Harvard Annex in 1879…Harvard classes since 1943: “Radcliffe Timeline,” Harvard Crimson, Apr. 21, 1999.

  20 Professors resented: Nancy Weiss Malkiel, “Keep the Damned Women Out”: The Struggle for Coeducation (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017), p. 37. This is an excellent book on the history of how elite universities in America and the UK went co-ed.

  21 Harvard instructors’ experience of teaching co-ed classes: “The ’Cliffe Girl: An Instructor’s View,” Harvard Crimson, Apr. 18, 1953.

  22 the June before Jane arrived: Malkiel, “Keep the Damned Women Out,” pp. 42–43.

  23 second-class citizens: Interview with Ellen Hume in 2014.

  24 same scholarship money and financial aid: Marie Hicks, “Integrating Women at Oxford and Harvard Universities, 1964–1977,” Yards and Gates, p. 363.

  25 weren’t allowed to enter Lamont: “Lamont Will Open to Cliffies after Twenty Celibate Years,” Harvard Crimson, Dec. 8, 1966.

  26 required to have escorts: Redbook, p. 86.

  27 nine women’s bathrooms: Redbook, p. 118.

  28 freshman boy could invite: “More as People than Dating Objects,” Harvard Magazine, Nov.–Dec. 2011.

  29 make the women as uncomfortable as possible: “More as People than Dating Objects,” Harvard Magazine, Nov.–Dec. 2011.

  30 classes started a week later: According to Redbook, p. 5, freshman orientation lasted eight days that year.

  31 met three times a week: Courses of Instruction Harvard and Radcliffe, Faculty of Arts and Sciences 1963–1964, Official Register of Harvard University, 60, no. 21 (1963): 37.

  32 There was an old joke: Interview with Jonathan Friedlaender in 2018.

  33 party at his house: Scene is from interviews with Elisabeth Handler (2014) and Peter Panchy (2017). Red wine with cloves detail from Susan Kelly notes from interview with Elisabeth Handler, May 24, 1996 (police file).

  34 an Albanian immigrant: Interview with Peter Panchy in 2017.

  35 mandatory abstinence lecture in Cabot Hall: Interview with Susan Talbot in 2014.

  36 In October 1963, a scandal hit: “Parietal Rules,” Harvard Crimson, Oct. 1, 1963.

  37 Students had been complaining: “Living Off-Campus,” Harvard Crimson, Mar. 21, 1963.

  38 Two Harvard deans pushed back: “Parietal Rules,” Harvard Crimson, Oct. 1, 1963.

  39 brought a television into…tolled every fifteen minutes: Interview with Lucy DuPertuis in 2018.

  40 Sophomore year, Jane and Elisabeth: Jane Britton’s Radcliffe student file.

  41 an old frame house: Interview with Elisabeth Handler in 2014.

  42 1950s living room furniture…Jane was particularly fond: Interview with Karen Black in 2017.

  43 Here we were, smelling like a stable: Letter from Jane Britton to her parents, June 12, 1964.

  44 Drugs hit campus that year: Interview with Susan Talbot in 2014.

  45 dodge water balloons: “The Whispers of a Movement,” Harvard Crimson, May 25, 2015.

  46 rarely more than three Black students: Synnott, Yards and Gates, p. 301.

  47 Susan Talbot only became aware: Interview with Susan Talbot in 2014.

  48 remember the electricity of this moment: Interview with Carol Sternhell in 2014.

  49 the hunter-gatherers: Interview with Karl Heider in 2017.

  50 fasting for seventy-two hours: Susan Kelly notes from interview with Elisabeth Handler, May 24, 1996 (police file).

  51 Jane came alive at night: Here through “cockeyed optimist,” Susan Kelly notes from interview with Elisabeth Handler, May 24, 1996 (police file).

  52 a 1962 white convertible: Elisabeth remembers this as Jane’s car, but Boyd (2020) said the car was bought by their father for their mother.

  53 Chez Jean, a sweet French bistro: Also appears in Susan Kelly notes from interview with Elisabeth Handler, May 24, 1996 (police file).

  Back with Elisabeth

  1 In early January 1969: Interviews with Elisabeth Handler (2014) and Peter Panchy (2017).

  2 “I felt so guilty just for being alive”: Susan Kelly notes from interview with Elisabeth Handler, May 24, 1996 (police file).

  3 Ed Franquemont had been a Harvard: Interview with Peter Rodman in 2017.

  4 He and Jane dated for less than: Multiple CPD interviews, including CPD-IK, CPD-DM.

  5 “cold as a slab of china”: CPD-IK, p. 29.

  Every Bad Thing You Know about Her

  1 “She wasn’t murdered because”: Don Mitchell WS post #374, June 15, 2014.

  2 “Now that I think about it”: CPD-JM 2, p. 46.

  3 Ingrid echoed the Mitchells’ admission: CPD-IK, p. 41.

  4 Jim was a total mystery to the Mitchells, too: Paragraph from CPD-DM, p. 61.

  5 Bankoffs were in Europe: Arthur Bankoff statement.

  6 Boyd had been deployed to Vietnam: Boyd Britton military records, National Personnel Records, Department of Defense.

  7 moved to Norfolk, Virginia: Interview with Elisabeth Handler in 2020.

  8 Cops pushed Ingrid to remember: Exchange from CPD-IK, pp. 35–36.

  9 Growing up in Needham: Details here about Jane’s childhood are from interview with Karen John in 2017 unless otherwise noted.

  10 [Photo]: Britton family file, courtesy Boyd Britton.

  11 Jane’s father was often away: Karen and Boyd’s memories differ here. Karen doesn’t remember Jane’s father being away, but Boyd spoke of their father taking frequent business trips. I’ve gone with Boyd’s memory.

  12 Emily Woodbury, another childhood friend: Interview with Emily Woodbury in 2017.

  13 “Fit hit the Shan”: Letter from Jane Britton to her parents, July 7, 1966.

  14 Her childhood drawings: Britton family file.

  15 [Photo]: Britton family file, courtesy Boyd B
ritton.

  16 spent a summer riding on the Cape: Interview with Boyd Britton in 2020.

  17 foxhunt simulations: Per Boyd (2020), there were no foxes left in the region, so Jane’s neighbors filled bags with fox urine and dragged them along the trails for the hounds to later follow.

  18 Don and Jill were used to seeing Jane every day: CPD-JM 2, p. 47.

  19 disappear at eight in the morning: CPD-JM 2, p. 47.

  20 Jane left in a rush at 10 p.m.: Here through “If she really had a date” from CPD-JM 2, p. 45.

  21 “Do you know of anyone else”: Exchange from CPD-SLI, p. 34.

  What’re You So Afraid Of?

  1 Drafts of a letter Jane wrote to Jim: “Collected Correspondence in Britton Apt,” various dates 1968, p. 6 (CPD file). The fact that these drafts were intended for Jim is inferred from the marmot reference in the letter. Jane often calls herself a marmot (e.g., Jane’s journal entry, June 14/15, 1968: “And all this time I thought you were just making the last days of the marmot a little (hell, infinitely) more blissful”).

  Boyd

  1 Boyd’s first response…Boyd’s second response: Boyd Britton, as quoted in email from Elisabeth Handler, Feb. 17, 2014, 5:06 p.m.

  2 Boyd wrote again: Email from Boyd Britton to Elisabeth Handler and me, Feb. 17, 2014, 6:23 p.m.

  3 “Perhaps I watch too many detective shows”: Email from Boyd Britton, Feb. 18, 2014, 11:54 a.m.

  Fragments of Jane

  1 A young Boyd dripped water: Interview with Boyd Britton in 2016.

  2 In fourth grade, Jane sat uncomfortably: Interview with Emily Woodbury in 2017.

  3 Jane and Boyd wandered into their parents’ room: Interview with Boyd Britton in 2017.