May 14, 2025 • 30 mins
For a whole year, Dovey retraced Mary’s last steps on the towpath in order to build her defense. Meanwhile, the aggressive, gum-smacking prosecutor portrayed Ray as a ruthless killer without morals. Dovey had to convince the jury that Ray was innocent—otherwise he would face the death penalty.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Earlier this year, my producer Natalie and I went to
the place where all of this began. So this towpath
is it's very pretty. It runs right along a wall
that's about what twenty feet high maybe that's a guess.
And between the towpath and the walls is a marsh
is I guess the time of year it's it's sort
(00:26):
of got a low level of water. And to the
left of the towpath as we're walking, and of course
you see the skyline right on the other side of that.
It's so pretty. I mean, it really is very beautiful.
Is that Georgetown?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yes, Georgetown starts that Georgetown right around here.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
We wanted to see for ourselves where Mary Meyer and
dove Rowntree intersected. Mary Meyer walked here, Dovey Rountree hunted
for clues here. This might be the only place where
the two of them cross paths. Literally, Georgetown overlooks this path. Yeah,
I mean, if you looked out the window of a
(01:07):
Georgetown dorm, you would see the path. I had this
idea of what the towpath would be like. Actually, when
I first heard the word towpath, I wasn't even sure
what one was. I guess I assumed the towpath was
heavily wooded. Like in a movie, you know, the slightly
ominous scene. It's typically at the beginning of a film noir.
(01:31):
Within five minutes of watching, you know from the pacing
and the moody lighting that she's not gonna make it
to the end of the film, just like Mary, who
was killed too soon before her life had run its course.
But here's the thing. The place Mary was murdered is
actually an open public park. It's amazing how crowded it is.
(01:54):
And obviously we're talking many decades ago, but still like
you're not lone and secluded. There's a lot happening. You
don't feel alone. It doesn't feel scary, it doesn't feel quiet. Absolutely,
it feels busy.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
When it comes to community of crime, you would think
you might want to do it in a more secluded place.
And this absolutely is not something that's unpopulated or shielded
from many people's views.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You see the joggers kind of above your head on
the bridge, and you even see the homeless people's little
encampenance because the trees don't even hide those at all.
But I thought, having not seen it before, that it
would be much more secluded and much you know, more
places where you could hide and not. I mean really
(02:45):
you can see everything. And these days planes constantly pass overhead.
The towpath has long been in the flight path of Reagan.
Of course, back then it was just called National Airport.
The path itself is also wider than I thought it
would be. We passed people walking their dogs, soccer players,
and cyclists were whizzing past us. That afternoon, Natalie and
(03:08):
I retraced Mary's steps on her final day. We started
at M and thirty fourth Street, passed Keybridge and walked
west toward Fletcher's boat House, crossed the Wooden Footbridge, and
even walked past the tunnel that journalist Lance Morrow would
have taken to reach Mary. We used several sources about
(03:30):
the crime to figure out where Mary died, but our
best guess is roughly forty three hundred Canal Road. Natalie
pinned it on her phone and we headed that way, so.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
You can see us sort of approaching. That's the x
Marxist spot right there. Got it.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
At this point in our walk, the Canal was on
the right, the Potomac was on the left, down a
slope filled with brush and trees, and that's the spot
where she was first shot. Yes, even in the Potomac
kayaks like you're really not alone.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It's like it's almost, in a weird way, the most
exposed area of the path so far.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, it's almost right here, like being on a beach. Right,
the water is to our left, the Potomac. The path
has gotten very flat and open, not too much brush,
and the highway is to our right, and it's kind
of just exposed. Over these last few months, I've read
(04:37):
so much about Mary's final walk, the horror and the
history of it. She was just doing what she did
every day to take a moment for herself. Remember, she'd
been going through a lot, getting divorced, grieving Michael's death.
And yet when it came down to it, this act
of violence happened in a public park that people pass
(04:59):
every day, not far away from posh Georgetown stores. You'd
think there'd be a plaque or something commemorating this death,
but it's business as usual. On M Street. You can
see people deciding which cupcake flavor to get as a
treat as pop music blares from the speakers.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Alas, all right, so it's.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
All a bit jarring. Even if we don't know it,
the shadow of history is always following us. I don't
think there's anybody walking on those streets fifteen minutes away
who realized that a murder occurred. I don't think there's
anybody who's thinking, oh my gosh, this is a site
of a murder. They just don't think that way, partly
because I think we forget so quickly, and partly because
(05:48):
I think it just looks so regular. It doesn't look
like a thing at all. It's just a dirt path.
And yet this is where a woman's life ended, and
where Dovey returned to again and again in the months
following Mary's murder to unlock clues that might save Ray
Crump's life. In July of nineteen sixty five, the time
(06:14):
had come for Dovey to give everything she had to
convince the jury that Ray was innocent. From Luminary Film,
Nation Entertainment, and Neon Hum Media, this is Murder on
the Towpath, a story of two incredible women who never met,
(06:36):
but whose lives became forever intertwined by tragedy. I'm your host,
Solidad O'Brien. This episode, we take you to the court
room where we finally hear about Ray's trial. While Dovey
was getting ready to defend Ray, Crump the country was chain.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
So nineteen sixty five is this both exciting and depressing year?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
That's Georgetown professor Marcia Chatteling.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Pass is the measuring. The Civil Rights Act of nineteen
sixty four is signed at the.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
White House, which is ending Jim Crow segregation in the South.
In nineteen sixty five, the Voting Rights Act is supposed
to secure the right to vote for every American and
is considered a victory, particularly for black voters in the South.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Those major victories were exciting, but America had far to
go to right certain wrongs.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
But it isn't just about being able to go to
a store and to vote. It's thinking about how African
Americans are going to be full citizens. How are they
going to be selected and seated in juries? How are
they going to be able to then advocate for themselves
to get loans at banks?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Segregation was only now just ending. It would take longer
for white people to consider black people their equals. Many
people still don't. Dovey felt the weight of all of this.
It was the weight of defending Ray in a society
that devalued black men. But it was also the weight
that she felt whenever she entered a courtroom. Here's historian
(08:16):
Alexis Co.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
The Civil Rights Act has just passed and that abolished segregation.
So that means that she has just started to be
able to physically walk into these areas that as a
black person, as a woman, that she has been barred
from the courtrooms, from libraries, to do research, like every
(08:38):
place that you would need access to in order to
do the kind of work that she needed to do.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
According to Dovey, her mere presence irritated the white judges
and lawyers. A year before the trial, the DC Bar
Association actually protested her membership. The all white group didn't
like a black woman in their midst. Some board members
even resigned over Dovey. So while she was fighting for
(09:04):
justice for Ray, Dovey also had to fight for herself.
She carried all of this with her that morning as
she walked into the DC Circuit Court on July twentieth,
nineteen sixty five. People wanted her to fail. She had
to prove them otherwise. On that hot summer Tuesday in DC,
(09:25):
all eyes were on Ray's trial This was.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
The hottest case in the courthouse.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
That's Bob Bennett. Back in nineteen sixty five. Bob was
a newly minted lawyer working as a clerk.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
It was a big deal, and of course the press
was there. Mary Pinchot Meyer was a very prominent, wealthy woman.
She was on the social pages and everything, and so
had to all those characteristics, and yeah, it was a
big story.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
A successful lawyer these days, and he knows a thing
or two about being part of a noteworthy case. In
the nineties, he was one of President Clinton's defense attorneys
during his impeachment hearings. But Ray's case was one of
the first times he was in a courtroom.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Was an exciting case, and yes, I did enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Bob was clerking for Judge Howard Corkran, who'd recently been
appointed to the District Court bench. President Johnson nominated him
and he was confirmed by the Senate in March. Some
thought the judge wasn't ready for such a high profile
murder case. Guess Dovey wasn't the only one out there
with something to prove.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I mean, Judge Corkran was a very patient, kind of
laid back fellow. He was calm. He was deliberative because
he was new. He wanted to do everything just perfectly right.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Dovey knew he wouldn't suffer fools. She had to be exemplary.
Crowds of people gathered in the fourth floor courtroom. The
space was all wood and cavernous. Thankfully, it was air conditioned,
which offset that muggy July heat in the district. There
were two tables, one for the prosecutor and one for
(11:19):
the defense. Behind the lawyers sat a large crowd who'd
come to watch justice be served.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
There were a lot of people sitting in the benches
in the rows.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Throngs of journalists were covering the trial. Stylish Georgetown women
like Cicily Angleton came for all eleven days. You'll recall
her husband, Jim Angleton, was the chief of CIA Counterintelligence.
Ray's mother, Martha Crump, had her church friends there for support,
and sitting in front of all of them were Ray
(11:50):
and Dovey. Ray wore a new blue suit, his mother
bought it for him for the trial.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
You know, he looked very young, and he wasn't threatening
at all. He was a little guy. As I remember
it now, he may have I don't know what his
height was, but he gave the appearance of being smallish
and thinnish.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
As I remember it, Ray was only five'. Five he
looked sharp in his, suit but he was. Scared he
was visibly. Shaking if he was, Convicted ray could face
a death. Penalty at one, point he reached out to
Touch dovey's.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Hand he was one of her. Children she, acted IF
i remember, right very kindly towards, him and she created
the image that she was going to take care of
this poor fellow who was incorrectly, charged and she created
(12:50):
a very motherly appearance in the courtroom as a protector
Of Raymond crump.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Women five men sat on the. Jury according To, dovey
they were black and white in equal number and came
from every walk of. Life there was a taxi, driver
a social, worker a, nurse and a. Counselor and then
there was the prosecutor representing the, STATE Us Attorney Alfred.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Hantman he Was he was a very strong. Prosecutor he
was a very big. Fellow he's very, aggressive very, capable very.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Capable hantman was a twenty five year veteran of THE
dc criminal. Courts he knew these kinds of cases better
than most trial lawyers prosecuted dozens of. Them he was
confident he.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Prevailed one thing that JUST i clearly can never forget
is he chewed gum throughout the whole, trial and he
chewed it in a very aggressive. Way AND i could
tell that irritated one or more of the tourists because
you could almost hear, it and it wasn't really respectful
(14:07):
of the cord of their.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Proceedings chewing gum aggressively didn't exactly win over, jurors or
at least annoyed one or. Two according To, bennett it
smacked of over. Confidence hamptman took the floor and began
his account of what happened that faithful day Of october,
twelfth nineteen sixty. Four he recounted the murder blow by,
(14:30):
blow growing louder and louder with each gruesome. Detail The
Washington post printed all the details Of hamptman's opening. Statement
the assailant shot the victim first in the left. Temple
then she was dragged twenty or twenty five feet toward the.
Embankment the, Witness Henry, wiggins heard a. Scream, god somebody helped.
(14:51):
Me mary struggled back across the towpath to the canal's.
Edge she crawled on her hands and, knees tearing at
her Assailant he shot her a second, time this time
in her right. Shoulder the bullet ripped through the main blood,
vessel leading into her. Heart the details were hard to hear.
Then they're hard to hear now decades. Later Once hantman
(15:14):
had the courtroom, horrified he tore Into. Ray according To,
Hantman crump was a killer with no, motive a black
man who enjoyed the thrill of, violence who killed for
the sake of. Killing the jury looked. Terrified hantman's details were.
Graphic that was the. Point it seemed like his strategy
(15:34):
was to scare jurors into a guilty. Verdict but he
didn't just want jurors to Think ray was a mindless,
killer a man without a moral. Compass he also wanted
them to know he was a. Liar hantman brought up
the fishing.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Rod and one thing That hantman did quite, effectively why
was That raymond told the police he was, fishing yet
there was no recovery of any fishing.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Equipment we Know ray hadn't told the. Truth as you might,
remember he Told dovey he was with a lover that.
Day but the, Woman, bibian didn't want to testify because
she didn't want her husband to find. Out but During
hamptman's opening, statement the jury Thought ray was lying because
he had Killed. Mary it was a devastating moment in.
(16:22):
Court hantman finished his opening. Statement the fairest verdict was
the guilty. One THE us attorney sat. Down it was
an unforgettable. Opening usually at this, point a defense lawyer
tells their version of events so jurors will believe that
(16:43):
the accused is actually, innocent, not As hantman, argued a
killer who enjoyed the thrill of. Violence dovey. Rose then
she did something out of the, ordinary even though everyone
was expecting she. Would she didn't make an opening. Statement
it was a bold, move But dovey had her. Reasons
(17:04):
she didn't want to give away the main points of her.
Case if she, did Then hamptman might not call one important,
witness a gentleman who mapped out the area Where mary.
Died So dovey bided her time and let the witness testimonies.
Begin hamptman called Upon ray's Neighbor Elsie perkins to testify
(17:25):
about the fishing. Gear elsie And ray's apartment sat side
by side On Stanton. Terrace she testified she Saw ray
leaving his apartment at eight that. Morning he was wearing
the same cap and jacket that the police found Near
mary's body later that, day and mind, you he had
no fishing gear with. Him she also said she Knew
(17:45):
ray owned only one fishing, rod she saw it in
a closet in his family's. Apartment later that, Day Dovey
pross Examined. Elsie The Evening star documented the. Exchange why
Was elsie so certain of What crump wore on the
day of the? Murder elsie, responded Mister crump's wife AND
i are in the habit of checking to see who's
(18:07):
coming or. Going isn't that being? Nosy dove, asked you
could call it? That the housewife, Answered dovey wasn't getting.
Anywhere the media didn't think so. Either The Washington stars
headline the next day Read meyer Witness link's cap To.
Crump that didn't sound. Good dovey knew she had to be.
(18:29):
Strategic hamtonman may be, aggressive but maybe she could outmaneuver
him in other.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Ways and a contrast started to develop during the case
where you Have dovey who was sort of soft and
grandmotherly or, motherly and you Have, hamptman who is this
hard charging, prosecutor And dovey knew exactly what she was.
(18:55):
Doing she played it up.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Some she tried to win over the jury by showing
That ray was a man worth tending, to not a,
monster but a, slight short man who was somebody's. Son
hampman brought another witness to the. Stand it was one
Of ray's, Friends Robert. Woolbright robert was the guy who
was supposed to take him to the construction job that
(19:18):
day he stopped by, RaSE but that Morning ray was
nowhere to be. Found he told the jury he didn't
see his friend on the job. Either this anecdote didn't
Make ray a, murderer but the prosecution was painting a
picture for the. Jury they were Saying ray was an unreliable, man,
shifty someone who didn't keep his, word someone whose own
(19:42):
friend would testify against. Him we still don't know Why
Robert woolbright did. That hantman said all of these testimonies
were a textbook. Case of circumstantial. Evidence in other, words
he was asking the jury to connect the. Dots you
don't need to look. Far the murder is in plain,
sight right here in the blue suit in front of.
(20:06):
You sounds strange to say, it But dovey And hamptman
saw eye to eye on one. Thing there was no
direct evidence Linking ray to the. Crime without, It hamptman
had to try for a conviction in a roundabout. Way
he Portrayed ray as a killer and a liar who
was found Near mary's, body and hoped the jurors would
(20:28):
convict him of murder without direct. Evidence dovey had other.
Plans at every, turn she was going to point out
the lack of evidence that Tied ray To mary's. Death
take the, gun for. Example police never found the murder
weapon after the. Shooting forty police officers combed through fifteen
hundred feet of. Dirt the park police even drained the,
(20:51):
canal hoping to find a thirty eight Caliber smith And
wesson laying at the bottom of that murky, water but they.
Didn't he certainly never found a pistol On. Ray the
government worked hard to find, it and still. Nothing dovey
knew there was no real evidence Connecting ray to the.
Crime she just needed to convince the jury of that.
(21:14):
Too to build their, case the prosecution brought out technical. Experts,
first AN fbi hair and fiber expert. Testified the, Man Paul,
stambaugh compared a hair taken From crump's head with hairs
found near the scene of the. Crime he told the
(21:35):
jury they. Matched he said there were no dissimilar, characteristics
but this was a time BEFORE dna, testing so all
THE fbi expert could say with that weird phrase was
that the hair on the jacket and cap looked like
it could Be ray's. Hair there was no way of
knowing if the strands of hair were genetically. Identical not exactly.
(21:59):
Science If ray were tried, today that alone could have
changed the course of the. Trial under cross, Examination dobby
forced him to admit what was actually, true that hair
cannot positively be traced to a particular. Source stombaugh sat back.
Down up next was ANOTHER fbi, figure this time a
(22:21):
gunpowder expert Named Warren. Johnson he said the gunpowder residue
found On mary's blouse and sweater showed the murderer put
a gun up To mary's body or very very near.
Contact but at the same, time no gunpowder compounds were
found on the jacket and cap that were supposedly. Raised
(22:41):
hampman argued it was Because ray was wet when the
police found. Him he Suggested ray had deliberately fallen into
the water to clean himself. Off then the prosecution brought
out their next bit of, evidence and boy was it.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Big, LITERALLY i remember That hantman put up on the
wall of the courthouse what had to be a twenty
five foot.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Map The Evening star said it was thirty feet, long
and some records say the map was as large as
fifty five feet. Wide point is this map was hard to.
Miss it's pretty likely the prosecution was resting a large
part of their case on the. Map hantman even wanted
to keep the map up during the, trial But Judge
(23:30):
corkoran thought it could sway the, jury so every Time
hantman examined a new witness about the crime, scene he'd
clumsily put the map back up like a tenth grade geography.
Teacher the map itself covered a substantial, area everything Between
keybridge And. Chainbridge it wasn't just the crime scene Where mary.
(23:52):
Died it included potential exits, too where the killer could
have escaped after the, murder.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
And his position was that after this came to the
attention of the, police that they blocked off every possible
exit from the, park And ray was caught in the
park that he couldn't get.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Out the map maker was a lifelong government. Employee his
name Was Joseph, roncisvale and he was an. Engineer he
testified that there were multiple official exits to the, towpath Including, Keybridge,
Chainbridge Foundry tunnel And fletcher's Boat. House, remember the police
(24:42):
Caught ray within forty five minutes of the. Murder the
police had probably been manning those exits within ten to
fifteen minutes Of mary's body being. Found so, essentially the
map maker was saying the murderer was trapped in the,
area there was no way he could have, escaped so
the killer had to Be. Ray that's what the prosecution.
(25:04):
Argued dovey quickly seized on the map maker's. Argument in
her cross. Examination she asked him if he had ever
walked the towpath. Area he. Hadn't dovey's long days traversing
the towpath were about to pay. Off unlike the map.
(25:24):
Maker she had been to the towpath a. Lot by this,
point she had memorized its. Pathways she listed off all
the numerous small and unofficial entry and exit points in the,
area and it was clear to me the killer didn't
have to leave the towpath through an official. Exit natalie
AND i noticed that immediately when we walk. THERE i,
(25:47):
mean you're so close To rhodes on both, sides so
sure there's not an official. Exit but if you walk over, here,
right if we head kind of toward The potomac and
we walked through this, bramble there's a path right. Here
i'm sure that's not an official, path but clearly somebody
else has come down, here and you can see where
they've tucked through, there and they could make their. WAY i,
(26:09):
mean it's a thirty foot, drop but you could see
how you could scoot down, there not, easily.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
You, Know so it's sort of a tunnel that brings
you somewhere other than.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Oh, yeah, yeah try not to fall off this edge.
Here so but, yeah, oh look at. That there's a
little tunnel that you can see pretty. Clearly that's not
an official exit by any stretch of the, imagination but
could you get, out you Could could you go down these,
stairs maybe run over that? Way could you jump into the?
WATER i mean those aren't official, exits but are there ways?
(26:41):
Out you could run across the, marsh you AND i
we go to the other. Side but, LOOK i mean
we you AND i could could just jump right into
This it's it's, mucky but it's not it's not full
of water like it is down. Further you could run
across that and scale up over that. WALL i MEAN
(27:01):
i could hop. That, YEAH i mean truly anybody could do.
That you, Know so this idea that, yes it's not
a it's not an official, exit but if you're, asking
could someone in fact, exit yes they. Could it seems
as Though dovey came to the same conclusion back in
(27:24):
nineteen sixty. Five the map maker was no contest For.
Dovey after she listed all the potential unofficial, exits he.
Relented he couldn't counter her argument he hadn't been to the,
towpath so in open court he had to admit he
wasn't sure there were a fixed number of escape. Routes
(27:45):
the implications were. Huge it meant the fact That ray
was in the area didn't mean that he was. Guilty
it meant that if the murder was, planned someone could
have quickly left the area in any number of, ways
and someone could even have gotten away before the cops
started their. Dragnet dovey scored big for raised. Defense Here's
(28:07):
Bob bennett.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Again AND i think that map hurt him Because Dovey
roundtree pointed out that in such a vast, area while
there would be a limited number of official, exits it
was such that the true murderer could hide in the
(28:29):
trees or escape through a non official. Exit SO i
think the map actually turned out to hurt.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Him hantman grew visibly. Angry he. Objected Judge corkoran overruled.
Him the map maker's testimony was fair. Game ray's case
wasn't looking as hopeless as it had after opening. Arguments
(29:00):
dovey was going toe to toe with the gum chewing aggressive.
Prosecutor she was, smart she knew what she was. Doing
dovey was finding gaps In hantman's. Argument what she didn't,
know what Only mary's inner circle, knew was That mary
had had an affair WITH. Jfk had she, known she
might have argued her case. Differently BUT jfk was known
(29:21):
to have countless women at his. Fingertips look At Marilyn.
Monroe but WHAT jfk And mary had was not a typical.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
AFFAIR jfk wrote to her and, said you know you
need to give me WHAT i.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Want, yes that's. RIGHT jfk Wrote Mary meyer a, letter
an epic love. Letter next time you'll get to hear
it From Luminary murder on The toepath is a production
Of Film Nation entertainment in association With neon Hum. Media
(29:58):
our executive producers are Me solidad, O'Brien Alyssa, Martino Milan,
papelka And Jonathan. Hirsch lead producer Is Shara. Morris associate
producers Are Natalie rinn And Lucy. Licht senior editor Is
Catherine Saint. Louis music and composition By Andrew, Eapen sound
design and mixing By Scott. Somerville fact checking By Laura.
(30:21):
Bullard special thanks To Alison, Cohen Sarah, Vacchiano Rose, Arsa Kate,
michikin AND. Michaela sealella
Earlier this year, my producer Natalie and I went to
the place where all of this began. So this towpath
is it's very pretty. It runs right along a wall
that's about what twenty feet high maybe that's a guess.
And between the towpath and the walls is a marsh
is I guess the time of year it's it's sort
(00:26):
of got a low level of water. And to the
left of the towpath as we're walking, and of course
you see the skyline right on the other side of that.
It's so pretty. I mean, it really is very beautiful.
Is that Georgetown?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yes, Georgetown starts that Georgetown right around here.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
We wanted to see for ourselves where Mary Meyer and
dove Rowntree intersected. Mary Meyer walked here, Dovey Rountree hunted
for clues here. This might be the only place where
the two of them cross paths. Literally, Georgetown overlooks this path. Yeah,
I mean, if you looked out the window of a
(01:07):
Georgetown dorm, you would see the path. I had this
idea of what the towpath would be like. Actually, when
I first heard the word towpath, I wasn't even sure
what one was. I guess I assumed the towpath was
heavily wooded. Like in a movie, you know, the slightly
ominous scene. It's typically at the beginning of a film noir.
(01:31):
Within five minutes of watching, you know from the pacing
and the moody lighting that she's not gonna make it
to the end of the film, just like Mary, who
was killed too soon before her life had run its course.
But here's the thing. The place Mary was murdered is
actually an open public park. It's amazing how crowded it is.
(01:54):
And obviously we're talking many decades ago, but still like
you're not lone and secluded. There's a lot happening. You
don't feel alone. It doesn't feel scary, it doesn't feel quiet. Absolutely,
it feels busy.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
When it comes to community of crime, you would think
you might want to do it in a more secluded place.
And this absolutely is not something that's unpopulated or shielded
from many people's views.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You see the joggers kind of above your head on
the bridge, and you even see the homeless people's little
encampenance because the trees don't even hide those at all.
But I thought, having not seen it before, that it
would be much more secluded and much you know, more
places where you could hide and not. I mean really
(02:45):
you can see everything. And these days planes constantly pass overhead.
The towpath has long been in the flight path of Reagan.
Of course, back then it was just called National Airport.
The path itself is also wider than I thought it
would be. We passed people walking their dogs, soccer players,
and cyclists were whizzing past us. That afternoon, Natalie and
(03:08):
I retraced Mary's steps on her final day. We started
at M and thirty fourth Street, passed Keybridge and walked
west toward Fletcher's boat House, crossed the Wooden Footbridge, and
even walked past the tunnel that journalist Lance Morrow would
have taken to reach Mary. We used several sources about
(03:30):
the crime to figure out where Mary died, but our
best guess is roughly forty three hundred Canal Road. Natalie
pinned it on her phone and we headed that way, so.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
You can see us sort of approaching. That's the x
Marxist spot right there. Got it.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
At this point in our walk, the Canal was on
the right, the Potomac was on the left, down a
slope filled with brush and trees, and that's the spot
where she was first shot. Yes, even in the Potomac
kayaks like you're really not alone.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It's like it's almost, in a weird way, the most
exposed area of the path so far.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, it's almost right here, like being on a beach. Right,
the water is to our left, the Potomac. The path
has gotten very flat and open, not too much brush,
and the highway is to our right, and it's kind
of just exposed. Over these last few months, I've read
(04:37):
so much about Mary's final walk, the horror and the
history of it. She was just doing what she did
every day to take a moment for herself. Remember, she'd
been going through a lot, getting divorced, grieving Michael's death.
And yet when it came down to it, this act
of violence happened in a public park that people pass
(04:59):
every day, not far away from posh Georgetown stores. You'd
think there'd be a plaque or something commemorating this death,
but it's business as usual. On M Street. You can
see people deciding which cupcake flavor to get as a
treat as pop music blares from the speakers.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Alas, all right, so it's.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
All a bit jarring. Even if we don't know it,
the shadow of history is always following us. I don't
think there's anybody walking on those streets fifteen minutes away
who realized that a murder occurred. I don't think there's
anybody who's thinking, oh my gosh, this is a site
of a murder. They just don't think that way, partly
because I think we forget so quickly, and partly because
(05:48):
I think it just looks so regular. It doesn't look
like a thing at all. It's just a dirt path.
And yet this is where a woman's life ended, and
where Dovey returned to again and again in the months
following Mary's murder to unlock clues that might save Ray
Crump's life. In July of nineteen sixty five, the time
(06:14):
had come for Dovey to give everything she had to
convince the jury that Ray was innocent. From Luminary Film,
Nation Entertainment, and Neon Hum Media, this is Murder on
the Towpath, a story of two incredible women who never met,
(06:36):
but whose lives became forever intertwined by tragedy. I'm your host,
Solidad O'Brien. This episode, we take you to the court
room where we finally hear about Ray's trial. While Dovey
was getting ready to defend Ray, Crump the country was chain.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
So nineteen sixty five is this both exciting and depressing year?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
That's Georgetown professor Marcia Chatteling.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Pass is the measuring. The Civil Rights Act of nineteen
sixty four is signed at the.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
White House, which is ending Jim Crow segregation in the South.
In nineteen sixty five, the Voting Rights Act is supposed
to secure the right to vote for every American and
is considered a victory, particularly for black voters in the South.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Those major victories were exciting, but America had far to
go to right certain wrongs.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
But it isn't just about being able to go to
a store and to vote. It's thinking about how African
Americans are going to be full citizens. How are they
going to be selected and seated in juries? How are
they going to be able to then advocate for themselves
to get loans at banks?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Segregation was only now just ending. It would take longer
for white people to consider black people their equals. Many
people still don't. Dovey felt the weight of all of this.
It was the weight of defending Ray in a society
that devalued black men. But it was also the weight
that she felt whenever she entered a courtroom. Here's historian
(08:16):
Alexis Co.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
The Civil Rights Act has just passed and that abolished segregation.
So that means that she has just started to be
able to physically walk into these areas that as a
black person, as a woman, that she has been barred
from the courtrooms, from libraries, to do research, like every
(08:38):
place that you would need access to in order to
do the kind of work that she needed to do.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
According to Dovey, her mere presence irritated the white judges
and lawyers. A year before the trial, the DC Bar
Association actually protested her membership. The all white group didn't
like a black woman in their midst. Some board members
even resigned over Dovey. So while she was fighting for
(09:04):
justice for Ray, Dovey also had to fight for herself.
She carried all of this with her that morning as
she walked into the DC Circuit Court on July twentieth,
nineteen sixty five. People wanted her to fail. She had
to prove them otherwise. On that hot summer Tuesday in DC,
(09:25):
all eyes were on Ray's trial This was.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
The hottest case in the courthouse.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
That's Bob Bennett. Back in nineteen sixty five. Bob was
a newly minted lawyer working as a clerk.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
It was a big deal, and of course the press
was there. Mary Pinchot Meyer was a very prominent, wealthy woman.
She was on the social pages and everything, and so
had to all those characteristics, and yeah, it was a
big story.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
A successful lawyer these days, and he knows a thing
or two about being part of a noteworthy case. In
the nineties, he was one of President Clinton's defense attorneys
during his impeachment hearings. But Ray's case was one of
the first times he was in a courtroom.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Was an exciting case, and yes, I did enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Bob was clerking for Judge Howard Corkran, who'd recently been
appointed to the District Court bench. President Johnson nominated him
and he was confirmed by the Senate in March. Some
thought the judge wasn't ready for such a high profile
murder case. Guess Dovey wasn't the only one out there
with something to prove.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I mean, Judge Corkran was a very patient, kind of
laid back fellow. He was calm. He was deliberative because
he was new. He wanted to do everything just perfectly right.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Dovey knew he wouldn't suffer fools. She had to be exemplary.
Crowds of people gathered in the fourth floor courtroom. The
space was all wood and cavernous. Thankfully, it was air conditioned,
which offset that muggy July heat in the district. There
were two tables, one for the prosecutor and one for
(11:19):
the defense. Behind the lawyers sat a large crowd who'd
come to watch justice be served.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
There were a lot of people sitting in the benches
in the rows.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Throngs of journalists were covering the trial. Stylish Georgetown women
like Cicily Angleton came for all eleven days. You'll recall
her husband, Jim Angleton, was the chief of CIA Counterintelligence.
Ray's mother, Martha Crump, had her church friends there for support,
and sitting in front of all of them were Ray
(11:50):
and Dovey. Ray wore a new blue suit, his mother
bought it for him for the trial.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
You know, he looked very young, and he wasn't threatening
at all. He was a little guy. As I remember
it now, he may have I don't know what his
height was, but he gave the appearance of being smallish
and thinnish.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
As I remember it, Ray was only five'. Five he
looked sharp in his, suit but he was. Scared he
was visibly. Shaking if he was, Convicted ray could face
a death. Penalty at one, point he reached out to
Touch dovey's.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Hand he was one of her. Children she, acted IF
i remember, right very kindly towards, him and she created
the image that she was going to take care of
this poor fellow who was incorrectly, charged and she created
(12:50):
a very motherly appearance in the courtroom as a protector
Of Raymond crump.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Women five men sat on the. Jury according To, dovey
they were black and white in equal number and came
from every walk of. Life there was a taxi, driver
a social, worker a, nurse and a. Counselor and then
there was the prosecutor representing the, STATE Us Attorney Alfred.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Hantman he Was he was a very strong. Prosecutor he
was a very big. Fellow he's very, aggressive very, capable very.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Capable hantman was a twenty five year veteran of THE
dc criminal. Courts he knew these kinds of cases better
than most trial lawyers prosecuted dozens of. Them he was
confident he.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Prevailed one thing that JUST i clearly can never forget
is he chewed gum throughout the whole, trial and he
chewed it in a very aggressive. Way AND i could
tell that irritated one or more of the tourists because
you could almost hear, it and it wasn't really respectful
(14:07):
of the cord of their.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Proceedings chewing gum aggressively didn't exactly win over, jurors or
at least annoyed one or. Two according To, bennett it
smacked of over. Confidence hamptman took the floor and began
his account of what happened that faithful day Of october,
twelfth nineteen sixty. Four he recounted the murder blow by,
(14:30):
blow growing louder and louder with each gruesome. Detail The
Washington post printed all the details Of hamptman's opening. Statement
the assailant shot the victim first in the left. Temple
then she was dragged twenty or twenty five feet toward the.
Embankment the, Witness Henry, wiggins heard a. Scream, god somebody helped.
(14:51):
Me mary struggled back across the towpath to the canal's.
Edge she crawled on her hands and, knees tearing at
her Assailant he shot her a second, time this time
in her right. Shoulder the bullet ripped through the main blood,
vessel leading into her. Heart the details were hard to hear.
Then they're hard to hear now decades. Later Once hantman
(15:14):
had the courtroom, horrified he tore Into. Ray according To,
Hantman crump was a killer with no, motive a black
man who enjoyed the thrill of, violence who killed for
the sake of. Killing the jury looked. Terrified hantman's details were.
Graphic that was the. Point it seemed like his strategy
(15:34):
was to scare jurors into a guilty. Verdict but he
didn't just want jurors to Think ray was a mindless,
killer a man without a moral. Compass he also wanted
them to know he was a. Liar hantman brought up
the fishing.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Rod and one thing That hantman did quite, effectively why
was That raymond told the police he was, fishing yet
there was no recovery of any fishing.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Equipment we Know ray hadn't told the. Truth as you might,
remember he Told dovey he was with a lover that.
Day but the, Woman, bibian didn't want to testify because
she didn't want her husband to find. Out but During
hamptman's opening, statement the jury Thought ray was lying because
he had Killed. Mary it was a devastating moment in.
(16:22):
Court hantman finished his opening. Statement the fairest verdict was
the guilty. One THE us attorney sat. Down it was
an unforgettable. Opening usually at this, point a defense lawyer
tells their version of events so jurors will believe that
(16:43):
the accused is actually, innocent, not As hantman, argued a
killer who enjoyed the thrill of. Violence dovey. Rose then
she did something out of the, ordinary even though everyone
was expecting she. Would she didn't make an opening. Statement
it was a bold, move But dovey had her. Reasons
(17:04):
she didn't want to give away the main points of her.
Case if she, did Then hamptman might not call one important,
witness a gentleman who mapped out the area Where mary.
Died So dovey bided her time and let the witness testimonies.
Begin hamptman called Upon ray's Neighbor Elsie perkins to testify
(17:25):
about the fishing. Gear elsie And ray's apartment sat side
by side On Stanton. Terrace she testified she Saw ray
leaving his apartment at eight that. Morning he was wearing
the same cap and jacket that the police found Near
mary's body later that, day and mind, you he had
no fishing gear with. Him she also said she Knew
(17:45):
ray owned only one fishing, rod she saw it in
a closet in his family's. Apartment later that, Day Dovey
pross Examined. Elsie The Evening star documented the. Exchange why
Was elsie so certain of What crump wore on the
day of the? Murder elsie, responded Mister crump's wife AND
i are in the habit of checking to see who's
(18:07):
coming or. Going isn't that being? Nosy dove, asked you
could call it? That the housewife, Answered dovey wasn't getting.
Anywhere the media didn't think so. Either The Washington stars
headline the next day Read meyer Witness link's cap To.
Crump that didn't sound. Good dovey knew she had to be.
(18:29):
Strategic hamtonman may be, aggressive but maybe she could outmaneuver
him in other.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Ways and a contrast started to develop during the case
where you Have dovey who was sort of soft and
grandmotherly or, motherly and you Have, hamptman who is this
hard charging, prosecutor And dovey knew exactly what she was.
(18:55):
Doing she played it up.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Some she tried to win over the jury by showing
That ray was a man worth tending, to not a,
monster but a, slight short man who was somebody's. Son
hampman brought another witness to the. Stand it was one
Of ray's, Friends Robert. Woolbright robert was the guy who
was supposed to take him to the construction job that
(19:18):
day he stopped by, RaSE but that Morning ray was
nowhere to be. Found he told the jury he didn't
see his friend on the job. Either this anecdote didn't
Make ray a, murderer but the prosecution was painting a
picture for the. Jury they were Saying ray was an unreliable, man,
shifty someone who didn't keep his, word someone whose own
(19:42):
friend would testify against. Him we still don't know Why
Robert woolbright did. That hantman said all of these testimonies
were a textbook. Case of circumstantial. Evidence in other, words
he was asking the jury to connect the. Dots you
don't need to look. Far the murder is in plain,
sight right here in the blue suit in front of.
(20:06):
You sounds strange to say, it But dovey And hamptman
saw eye to eye on one. Thing there was no
direct evidence Linking ray to the. Crime without, It hamptman
had to try for a conviction in a roundabout. Way
he Portrayed ray as a killer and a liar who
was found Near mary's, body and hoped the jurors would
(20:28):
convict him of murder without direct. Evidence dovey had other.
Plans at every, turn she was going to point out
the lack of evidence that Tied ray To mary's. Death
take the, gun for. Example police never found the murder
weapon after the. Shooting forty police officers combed through fifteen
hundred feet of. Dirt the park police even drained the,
(20:51):
canal hoping to find a thirty eight Caliber smith And
wesson laying at the bottom of that murky, water but they.
Didn't he certainly never found a pistol On. Ray the
government worked hard to find, it and still. Nothing dovey
knew there was no real evidence Connecting ray to the.
Crime she just needed to convince the jury of that.
(21:14):
Too to build their, case the prosecution brought out technical. Experts,
first AN fbi hair and fiber expert. Testified the, Man Paul,
stambaugh compared a hair taken From crump's head with hairs
found near the scene of the. Crime he told the
(21:35):
jury they. Matched he said there were no dissimilar, characteristics
but this was a time BEFORE dna, testing so all
THE fbi expert could say with that weird phrase was
that the hair on the jacket and cap looked like
it could Be ray's. Hair there was no way of
knowing if the strands of hair were genetically. Identical not exactly.
(21:59):
Science If ray were tried, today that alone could have
changed the course of the. Trial under cross, Examination dobby
forced him to admit what was actually, true that hair
cannot positively be traced to a particular. Source stombaugh sat back.
Down up next was ANOTHER fbi, figure this time a
(22:21):
gunpowder expert Named Warren. Johnson he said the gunpowder residue
found On mary's blouse and sweater showed the murderer put
a gun up To mary's body or very very near.
Contact but at the same, time no gunpowder compounds were
found on the jacket and cap that were supposedly. Raised
(22:41):
hampman argued it was Because ray was wet when the
police found. Him he Suggested ray had deliberately fallen into
the water to clean himself. Off then the prosecution brought
out their next bit of, evidence and boy was it.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Big, LITERALLY i remember That hantman put up on the
wall of the courthouse what had to be a twenty
five foot.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Map The Evening star said it was thirty feet, long
and some records say the map was as large as
fifty five feet. Wide point is this map was hard to.
Miss it's pretty likely the prosecution was resting a large
part of their case on the. Map hantman even wanted
to keep the map up during the, trial But Judge
(23:30):
corkoran thought it could sway the, jury so every Time
hantman examined a new witness about the crime, scene he'd
clumsily put the map back up like a tenth grade geography.
Teacher the map itself covered a substantial, area everything Between
keybridge And. Chainbridge it wasn't just the crime scene Where mary.
(23:52):
Died it included potential exits, too where the killer could
have escaped after the, murder.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
And his position was that after this came to the
attention of the, police that they blocked off every possible
exit from the, park And ray was caught in the
park that he couldn't get.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Out the map maker was a lifelong government. Employee his
name Was Joseph, roncisvale and he was an. Engineer he
testified that there were multiple official exits to the, towpath Including, Keybridge,
Chainbridge Foundry tunnel And fletcher's Boat. House, remember the police
(24:42):
Caught ray within forty five minutes of the. Murder the
police had probably been manning those exits within ten to
fifteen minutes Of mary's body being. Found so, essentially the
map maker was saying the murderer was trapped in the,
area there was no way he could have, escaped so
the killer had to Be. Ray that's what the prosecution.
(25:04):
Argued dovey quickly seized on the map maker's. Argument in
her cross. Examination she asked him if he had ever
walked the towpath. Area he. Hadn't dovey's long days traversing
the towpath were about to pay. Off unlike the map.
(25:24):
Maker she had been to the towpath a. Lot by this,
point she had memorized its. Pathways she listed off all
the numerous small and unofficial entry and exit points in the,
area and it was clear to me the killer didn't
have to leave the towpath through an official. Exit natalie
AND i noticed that immediately when we walk. THERE i,
(25:47):
mean you're so close To rhodes on both, sides so
sure there's not an official. Exit but if you walk over, here,
right if we head kind of toward The potomac and
we walked through this, bramble there's a path right. Here
i'm sure that's not an official, path but clearly somebody
else has come down, here and you can see where
they've tucked through, there and they could make their. WAY i,
(26:09):
mean it's a thirty foot, drop but you could see
how you could scoot down, there not, easily.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
You, Know so it's sort of a tunnel that brings
you somewhere other than.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Oh, yeah, yeah try not to fall off this edge.
Here so but, yeah, oh look at. That there's a
little tunnel that you can see pretty. Clearly that's not
an official exit by any stretch of the, imagination but
could you get, out you Could could you go down these,
stairs maybe run over that? Way could you jump into the?
WATER i mean those aren't official, exits but are there ways?
(26:41):
Out you could run across the, marsh you AND i
we go to the other. Side but, LOOK i mean
we you AND i could could just jump right into
This it's it's, mucky but it's not it's not full
of water like it is down. Further you could run
across that and scale up over that. WALL i MEAN
(27:01):
i could hop. That, YEAH i mean truly anybody could do.
That you, Know so this idea that, yes it's not
a it's not an official, exit but if you're, asking
could someone in fact, exit yes they. Could it seems
as Though dovey came to the same conclusion back in
(27:24):
nineteen sixty. Five the map maker was no contest For.
Dovey after she listed all the potential unofficial, exits he.
Relented he couldn't counter her argument he hadn't been to the,
towpath so in open court he had to admit he
wasn't sure there were a fixed number of escape. Routes
(27:45):
the implications were. Huge it meant the fact That ray
was in the area didn't mean that he was. Guilty
it meant that if the murder was, planned someone could
have quickly left the area in any number of, ways
and someone could even have gotten away before the cops
started their. Dragnet dovey scored big for raised. Defense Here's
(28:07):
Bob bennett.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Again AND i think that map hurt him Because Dovey
roundtree pointed out that in such a vast, area while
there would be a limited number of official, exits it
was such that the true murderer could hide in the
(28:29):
trees or escape through a non official. Exit SO i
think the map actually turned out to hurt.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Him hantman grew visibly. Angry he. Objected Judge corkoran overruled.
Him the map maker's testimony was fair. Game ray's case
wasn't looking as hopeless as it had after opening. Arguments
(29:00):
dovey was going toe to toe with the gum chewing aggressive.
Prosecutor she was, smart she knew what she was. Doing
dovey was finding gaps In hantman's. Argument what she didn't,
know what Only mary's inner circle, knew was That mary
had had an affair WITH. Jfk had she, known she
might have argued her case. Differently BUT jfk was known
(29:21):
to have countless women at his. Fingertips look At Marilyn.
Monroe but WHAT jfk And mary had was not a typical.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
AFFAIR jfk wrote to her and, said you know you
need to give me WHAT i.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Want, yes that's. RIGHT jfk Wrote Mary meyer a, letter
an epic love. Letter next time you'll get to hear
it From Luminary murder on The toepath is a production
Of Film Nation entertainment in association With neon Hum. Media
(29:58):
our executive producers are Me solidad, O'Brien Alyssa, Martino Milan,
papelka And Jonathan. Hirsch lead producer Is Shara. Morris associate
producers Are Natalie rinn And Lucy. Licht senior editor Is
Catherine Saint. Louis music and composition By Andrew, Eapen sound
design and mixing By Scott. Somerville fact checking By Laura.
(30:21):
Bullard special thanks To Alison, Cohen Sarah, Vacchiano Rose, Arsa Kate,
michikin AND. Michaela sealella
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