by Mark Shaw
Since Kilgallen did not have a prescription for Tuinal, common sense dictates Kilgallen could have secured Tuinal pills from Richard. This scenario is certainly possible but because of the amount of barbiturates in Kilgallen’s blood, she must have taken several pills. Alternatively, Richard may have succumbed to a fit of jealous rage over Kilgallen’s enjoying the good life and her threat to change her will, leaving him with less if she died. In this state of mind, he could have decided to add the Tuinal noted in the ME report to her drink during the early morning hours of Kilgallen’s death. This could have happened when she was distracted or in the bathroom.
Another possibility exists as to how Richard could have been complicit in Kilgallen’s death. Recall Pearl Bauer’s statement that Richard brought Kilgallen pills and liquor when Kilgallen was hospitalized for the fractured shoulder. Perhaps Richard provided too much Tuinal from his “stash.” This could have happened if Kilgallen asked for a sleeping aid when she arrived home. Unfortunately, when Richard returned to the bedroom, he discovered the dosage had rendered her unconscious. Believing he had contributed to her death, and afraid of being charged with a crime, an intoxicated Richard had to think quickly regarding how to cover up his actions and to do so staged the death scene. Whether Richard enlisted the help of James Clement, the butler, or the maid Marie Eichler, is unknown.
If Richard accidently on purpose (deliberately) spiked Kilgallen’s drink with the powerful Tuinal along with the other barbiturates, he was guilty of premeditated murder. If he simply mixed too much Tuinal and the other drugs into her drink causing her death, the charge could have been manslaughter.
Marc Sinclaire’s discovery of Kilgallen’s body a few minutes after 9:00 a.m. must have been a shock to Richard since as Sinclaire, referring to Clement, stated in his videotaped interview, “James was very nervous because I wasn’t supposed to be there. I was not supposed to find the body.... They didn’t expect me to come; no one knew I was coming [to the townhouse.”
Recall the police were not notified of Kilgallen’s death until mid-afternoon, much later than Sinclaire appeared on the scene. And when they did, by all accounts including that of actress Joan Crawford, Richard was in a sad state. Phyllis Cerf, wife of Bennett, told Sinclaire, “Richard was dead drunk. They were trying to sober him up.” Jean Stralem, a friend of the Kollmar’s said, “Dick was in his chair crying. So drunk! So upset! So in tears!”52 The question is: was Richard drunk and upset over the loss of his wife or because he somehow was responsible for her death?
Richard’s conduct after Kilgallen died is riddled with inconsistencies including what he told Dr. Luke within a short time after the medical examiner appeared on the scene. Recall that listed under the section, “Witnesses or Informants,” he said Kilgallen had returned home from What’s My Line? at 11:30 p.m. “feeling chipper” before writing her column, saying “goodnight” and going to bed.
Based on other accounts, Richard’s statements were false. Bob Bach had been with Kilgallen after midnight at P.J. Clarke’s, several witnesses saw her at the Regency Hotel Bar past that time, and Dave Spiegel, the Western Union manager, spoke to Kilgallen at 2:20 a.m.
What Richard said about Kilgallen’s JFK assassination file adds to suspicion that he was involved in her death. Three days after she died, Jean and Bob Bach invited Richard to dinner. Bob asked, “Dick, what was all that stuff in the folder Dorothy carried around with her about the assassination?” Richard replied, “Robert, I’m afraid that will have to go to the grave with me.”
Later, Kilgallen’s friend Mark Lane, with whom Kilgallen shared her JFK assassination investigation findings, asked Richard about the file. He said, “I’m going to destroy all that. It’s done enough damage already.” Lane apparently did not follow up with a question as to why the file had “done enough damage already.” Since Richard never commented on the file publically, confusion reigns as what happened to file, if in fact Richard possessed it after Kilgallen died.
More crucial, Richard argued quite extensively against any autopsy being performed. In fact, Johnnie Ray biographer Jonny Whiteside wrote of “Dick’s vociferous refusal to allow an autopsy.” Had Richard done so out of love for his wife or because he was afraid of what the autopsy results might indicate regarding the barbiturates discovered in her blood? If it was the latter and he had spiked her drink with the killer drugs, he must have sweated until the final medical examiner’s report was issued.
With all of these facts in mind, and since Richard’s propensity for violence was a given based on his threatening to kill Johnnie Ray, was Richard capable of murdering his wife? At her funeral, as previously discussed, Kilgallen’s mother accused him of doing so, but no investigation resulted based on her comments. Since Richard committed suicide, he cannot defend himself from any accusations and his children, for reasons known only to them, will not comment.
Based on interviews with the couple’s friends, Lee Israel was dubious Richard could have murdered Kilgallen. Summarizing her thoughts, the author wrote, “He did not appear to have the ‘balls’ to do a crime of such magnitude.”
Marc Sinclaire also expressed doubt during his videotaped interview that Richard killed Kilgallen. Sinclaire stated, “I don’t think he could have done it.” Asked if a more powerful person did, he said, “I think it was more than one person who did it, was involved in Dorothy’s death.”
Fifty years later, no clear-cut evidence exists proving Richard Kollmar murdered Kilgallen. This is true despite his having motive (jealousy of her continued success both personally and professionally; and greed with the potential loss of inheritance if she changed her will), means (being in the townhouse when Kilgallen died with easy access to her), opportunity (townhouse empty except for Kerry and Hassan who were asleep in their 4th floor rooms), and benefit from the crime (no more humiliation existing due to Kilgallen’s love affairs and success; and no reduction of inheritance from a new will). Any prosecutor, if Richard had been charged, would have certainly targeted his unruly/desperate state of mind, his having threatened to kill Johnnie Ray and Kilgallen’s mother’s funeral accusation.
Added to the mix regarding Richard’s potential responsibility for Kilgallen’s death is information supplied by tutor Ibne Hassan in a 1978 interview. Asked about the circumstances at the townhouse just after Kilgallen’s body was found, he said, “…Jill and her husband had also come. And they were discussing different family problems. And Mr. Kollmar was there [and to Jill] he said, ‘Well, Jill, there was no argument; there was nothing.’ She said, ‘Well, Dad we are not blaming you or anything.” Hassan did not comment further regarding what the “family problems” were or why Jill had reason to assure her father that she did not blame him for her mother’s death.
Aside from considering Richard as the murderer, Lee Israel, based on her extensive research, believed one person was responsible for Kilgallen’s death. The author wrote, “It must be considered probably that, if [Dorothy] was murdered, the crime was done to silence her, by a kiss-and-tell representative of whatever faction it is that did not want the facts about the JFK assassination to emerge.”
If Israel is right, who was this person who killed or participated in the murder of the famous journalist, investigative reporter extraordinaire, and What’s My Line? television star?
47 Sinatra was attacked in various columns for his underworld connections. This included his appearances at the mob-controlled Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. There, according to his FBI file, Sinatra “pimped” for John Kennedy. The notation read, “It was a known fact that the Sands Hotel was owned by hoodlums and that while the Senator [Kennedy], Sinatra, Peter Lawford were there, show girls from all over town were running in and out of the Senator’s suite.”
48 Sinatra was severely criticized by columnists Walter Winchell and Louis Sobel for his nasty remarks. Sobel called them “in bad taste” and “inexcusable.”
49 If one
compares childhood photos of Kerry with childhood photos of Johnnie Ray, there appears to be significant similarities between their respective noses. While Dorothy and Richard’s noses have some sharp curvature, neither Kerry’s nor Ray’s has that feature but instead a more rounded shape.
50 According to researcher Kathryn Fauble, stand-up comedian George Hopkins, a friend of Johnny Ray’s, reported Kilgallen met Ray at a 1952 press party for the singer at the New York Sheraton Astor Hotel near Times Square and “asked others what they thought of Johnnie.” The date of the party is uncertain but apparently was in close proximately to Kilgallen’s “Voice of Broadway” column where she praised Ray’s hit song, “Please Mr. Sun.”
51 This author’s attempts to further confirm Johnnie Ray as Kerry’s father in accordance with Kilgallen’s statement to Sinclaire have been unsuccessful. So as to alert Kerry to the publishing of this book, several messages for him were left both with business colleagues in Georgia, and through his Facebook page during 2015 with no response. This author also informed Kerry’s sister Jill that the three siblings could read the book’s manuscript for accuracy or comment, but unfortunately, no response was received.
52 There is no explanation as to why Joan Crawford, Jean Stralem, or any others were present at the Kilgallen townhouse BEFORE the police arrived. Who called them and when is a mystery.
CHAPTER 24
Any discussion of foul play being the cause of Dorothy Kilgallen’s death must pass through her obsession with one particular case among the hundreds she covered as an investigative reporter. Some may be more memorable than others, but one stands out with certain priority: the JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald assassination investigations.
Suspects have abounded since the events in Dallas unfolded in 1963. They include the CIA (speculation JFK was going to dissolve the agency), the Russians (hated JFK as a result of the Cuban missile crisis), Cuban dissidents (hated JFK because of the Bay of Pigs fiasco), the military establishment (hated JFK since he could end the Vietnam War by reducing military spending), and Lyndon Johnson (feared JFK would remove Johnson from the 1964 Democratic presidential ticket.) Regarding the latter, recall that Kilgallen, in her column, “The Oswald File Must Not Close,” demanded that the new president “satisfy the public’s uneasy mind about this peculiar assassination of the assassin.” Her doing so must have caused LBJ and his handlers to keep a close eye on Kilgallen’s future columns/articles. However, like the others mentioned above with the possible exception of the CIA as noted later, it is most difficult to connect any to Kilgallen’s death without further evidence surfacing.
Directing attention to one specific person who feared Kilgallen’s JFK investigation more than any other, requires due care. It begins with understanding how passionate Kilgallen was about discovering the truth regarding who killed the president. It was not business, but a personal matter for her, one highly personal due to the never-to-be forgotten experience with the president that touched her heart and soul.
Recall this happened when JFK treated Kilgallen’s young son Kerry with affection when they visited the White House. She had never forgotten his kindness toward her son. After the assassination, Kilgallen wept with Kerry in her arms for a man they both loved. Recall she then wrote in her Journal-American column: “The picture that stays in my mind was the one of this tall young man bending over a tall small boy, carefully scrutinizing envelopes until he came to the name Kerry Ardan Kollmar - Grade 3B. This was the man who was assassinated in Dallas.”
Kilgallen friend Marlon Swing confirmed she had a special friendship with John Kennedy dear to her heart. The CBS producer recalled the night he and Kilgallen returned from a [Broadway] opening and were sitting in her office. “The phone rang,” Swing said, “And it was very late, 1:30, almost in the morning. It was [Ted] Sorenson, special counsel to the president—no small potatoes. They were talking and I heard Dorothy say, ‘Oh, really, say hello to him too.’ Jack Kennedy had walked into the room, asked who [Sorenson] was talking to and when he learned it was Dorothy said, ‘Say hi for me.’”
Bob Bach, Kilgallen’s friend and What’s My Line? producer, noted another time when JFK and Kilgallen met and the details he added indicate more than a passing friendship. “[At the Stork Club],” Bach stated, “[I] watched with a mischievous thrill as Jack Kennedy, a young senator out late with someone other than his wife, ‘touched base’ with Dorothy: ‘Hello, Dorothy [he said]. Do you remember the night we played charades at your house? What fun it was!’”
The sum of these encounters meant that from the moment Kilgallen learned JFK died, her quest to discover who killed her friend, and why, was a top priority. To be certain, the affection she felt for the president was the driving force behind her investigation. Kilgallen felt she had a duty, a responsibility out of friendship with the slain president, to learn the truth.
It is clear that the “Oswald Alone” proclamation from Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry and then FBI Director J. Edger Hoover provided a pat explanation for JFK’s assassination. However, when Jack Ruby shot Oswald, Kilgallen’s investigative instincts kicked in. Her years of experience as an investigative reporter proved valuable. Kilgallen knew something was wrong; something did not make sense. She had to learn more about what had happened in Dallas. To that end, Kilgallen immediately told her Journal-American editor she intended to cover the Jack Ruby trial.
Recall that when that trial began in early March 1964, questions she had been pondering began surfacing during a jury selection discussion with journalist Jim Lehrer when she mentioned “one man, or even three or five in a conspiracy...” This was a revealing statement proving that from the very first day of Ruby’s trial, Kilgallen was wary of official accounts. Other reporters accepted Chief Curry and Hoover’s “Oswald Alone” proclamation. Kilgallen did not.
Using her fame and reputation to the fullest, Kilgallen immediately ingratiated herself into the defense camp. This is where lawyer Melvin Belli controlled Jack Ruby’s fate. That she did so with the defense and not the prosecution is quite relevant. It indicates the answers she sought mainly dealt with the Jack Ruby side of the equation, not Lee Harvey Oswald.
Immediately, Kilgallen secured a friendship with Belli. She had to know he represented mobster Mickey Cohen through national media coverage of Belli and Cohen’s exploits.53 In fact, Kilgallen had included Cohen in a September 26, 1958 “Voice of Broadway” column writing, “Mickey Cohen, the California gangster, is about to tour the nation lecturing on one of his favorite topics, ‘Corruption in Politics.’”
Upon arriving at the Ruby trial, Kilgallen used her persuasive powers to full gain. It was likely that Belli, the lady’s man married six times, was enamored with her. As Belli’s longtime secretary Joyce Revilla told this author, “Belli chased everything with a skirt on.” It was certainly possible that Belli was chasing the famous Kilgallen with hopes of bedding her.
The two certainly had much in common. Both enjoyed the spotlight, the fame, the publicity, the lavish parties, the power in their respective fields of interest. Like Kilgallen, Belli coveted media exposure through print, television and film. He certainly had a passion for acting. He had learned well in the courtroom as a skilled trial lawyer.
Joyce Revilla recalled that Belli went through “a phase when he wanted to be an actor” and sought roles on the big and little screen. Later, he would guest star in a Star Trek television episode “And the Children Shall Lead” as an avenging angel. When director Francis Ford Coppola was auditioning actors to play Don Corleone in the Godfather film, Belli read for the part. True to his Texas-sized ego, Belli pouted when Coppola chose Marlon Brando for the role.
Revilla believed it was possible Belli made a deal with Kilgallen. She agreed to boost his prospects with the plethora of entertainment contacts she had in Hollywood and New York. In return, he gave her access to the defense, to Ruby that no other journalist enjoyed.
&nbs
p; By approving Kilgallen request to interview Ruby through co-counsel Joe Tonahill, Belli took the gamble she would learn too much from Oswald’s killer. However, each interview lasted less than ten minutes. Besides, Belli was certain Kilgallen would believe Ruby was crazy. That meant she would pay little attention to what he said. Belli was wrong. He had underestimated Kilgallen just as so many others, especially men, had through the years.
Bonded by their respective celebrity statuses, Kilgallen and the flamboyant Belli, the most famous attorney in the world at the time spent time before and after court. Kilgallen attempted to learn as much inside information about Ruby’s case as possible.
Belli was quite tight-lipped about his relationship with Kilgallen. This happened both during and after the Ruby trial. No one this author interviewed at his office recalls his even mentioning her name.
In Belli’s 1964 book, Dallas Justice, only one page acknowledges the famous reporter. He wrote, “Ruby did say he got angry at his favorite columnist, Dorothy Kilgallen, when she wrote that he was a gangster....” Years later, in his autobiography My Life On Trial, Belli mentioned Kilgallen briefly on one page out of 351. He wrote, “Dorothy Kilgallen [was] in Dallas for most of the [Ruby] trial and a frequent lunch companion of mine.”
Television footage of Kilgallen with Belli at the Ruby trial is viewable at TheReporterWhoKnewTooMuch.com. Confirming the close relationship she enjoyed with Belli and co-counsel Joe Tonahill, Kilgallen had at one point sat within a privileged foot or two of Belli during a Ruby trial news conference. Wearing a spotted leopard top, and holding an audio tape recorder in front of Belli, Kilgallen asked “How long does a person have to live in Dallas to be a prospective juror?” Belli and Tonahill both answered. Later footage showed Kilgallen whispering in Tonahill’s ear. His face reflected a surprised look at whatever she told him.