Murder on the Towpath Luminary

It was a baffling mystery. A socialite and artist with powerful connections was murdered on her daily walk in a posh DC neighborhood. Nobody knew what to make of Mary Pinchot Meyer’s murder. A Black man named Raymond Crump Jr. soon became the suspect – and in 1964, that was bound to capture everyone’s attention. But was he Mary’s killer or a scapegoat??

[Originally published in 2020, this encore presentation marks the 60th Anniversary of JFK's assassination.]

Dovey Johnson Roundtree became a lawyer at a time when no one wanted Black women to amount to anything. She’d grown up with the KKK terrorizing her neighborhood. A lucky break landed her at Spelman College. Her intellect got her into Howard Law. But it was her courage that made her take on the daunting case of Ray Crump Jr. — the Black man accused of killing Mary Pinchot Meyer.

[Originally published in 2020, this encore presentation marks the 60th Anniversary of JFK's assassination.]

Mary Pinchot came from a wealthy, eccentric family. The kind of folks who rode horses naked on their East Coast estate and hobnobbed with Kennedys. She was fiercely committed to world peace, but ended up marrying a CIA man named Cord Meyer. It was only after a tragic accident that she threw herself into painting in Georgetown. What started as a hobby became a lifeline in the years before her death.

[Originally published in 2020, this encore presentation marks the 60th Anniversary of JFK's assassination.]

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. It was up to Dovey to convince a jury that Ray didn't deserve the death penalty.

[Originally published in 2020, this encore presentation marks the 60th Anniversary of JFK's assassination.]

In the year before her death, Mary was coming into her own as a painter. She was experimenting with her art and drugs. But what Dovey didn’t know at the time of Ray’s trial was that Mary was having an affair with a very powerful man: President John F. Kennedy.

[Originally published in 2020, this encore presentation marks the 60th Anniversary of JFK's assassination.]

A witness for the prosecution said he saw Ray after Mary’s murder. But did he? Dovey’s final defense hinges on one important piece of evidence: Ray Crump himself. By then, he’d spent 9 months behind bars, some of it in solitary confinement. Would he go free?

[Originally published in 2020, this encore presentation marks the 60th Anniversary of JFK's assassination.]