There has recently been an admission by T. Bryant that 2 of his black friends were at the scene at the time of the crime and that they later admitted to the crime and even bragged about it. In fact, forensic evidence was found at the crime scene that includes hairs from a black person. M. Skakel's only bad luck was that he climbed a tree (which was far from the tree of the murder) after coming back from his cousin's, hours after the time of the crime. This is what provided the strongest circumstantial evidence for his conviction, even though the times don't add up. In fact, M. Skakel said that he heard voices coming from the direction of the crime scene as he ran home.
I would not believe a word of what Tony Bryant has to say about this case. Although he was taped telling investigator Vito Colucci that his friends Adolph Hasbrouck and Burt Tinsley killed Martha, he then backpedaled and stated: "I wasn't there. I didn't see who killed this young girl. This whole thing has been blown out of proportion. At no time did I say I saw what happened or
know who did it."
It now appears that Bryant, who was collaborating with Crawford Mills in writing a screenplay based on the case, tried to make himself seem important by stating he knew who the actual killers of Martha were. He implicated Tinsley and Hasbrouck, never dreaming that Mills would take him seriously enough to tell Dorthy Moxley about this new information and then go to the defense with Bryant's claims. During the deposition, Bryant, Tinsle, and Hasbrouck all pleaded the fifth—against self-incrimination—although both Tinsle and Hasbrouck maintain their innocence, stating they were in Belle Haven before the murder. One admits he went back two days after the murder.
Certainly their versions make more sense, considering Bryant told Colucci that at one point, Bryant, Hasbrouck, and Tinsle were smoking and drinking with fifteen other kids (including Martha), and that the latter two spent the night at Geoffrey Byrne's house. However, in the thirty-five years since Martha's death, not a single witness remembers any of the trio present during the night in question. Bryant's implication of Byrne's involvement is also suspect, considering the latter is deceased. Byrne's brother, Greg, says "it was 'convenient' that his dead brother would be named as the local connection for two youths from the Bronx, one of whom is black." Geoffrey's friend, Neal Walker, adds that "[Bryant, Tinsle, and Hasbrouck] had been in the neighborhood before and after the murder.".
Concerning the black hair, there is now some question as to whether a hair belonging to a black person was ever present. During the trial, it was revealed that there were many hairs present at the crime scene. Two of those did not belong to Martha. One hair was profiled by Terri Melton as being "Asian." Melton did not elaborate, which means it is unclear whether the hair belongs to someone from Indian-Asian ethnicity, or Southeast Asian ethnicity. The other hair was dark, but no mitochondrial DNA could be retrieved to do further testing. Moreover, there was also a white hair found at the scene, but it was lost.
The mix of hairs (white, Asian, dark) suggests that an albino, an Asian, and a brunette killed Martha. Or more likely, the hairs may not even be involved in the case. The two hairs were not found on Martha's body, but rather they came from the blue blankets the police placed over her corpse to preserve her dignity. There is every chance that if the blankets had not been properly cleaned (or even reused), there was simply cross-contamination. Ultimately, there is no sure way of finding out if that was ever the case, as the forensic labs have to test everything collected. During the trial there was no mention of a hair possibly belonging to a black person, so it is possible that someone mistakenly perceived the "Asian" hair or the brunette hair as being of "negroid" classification, and the myth stuck ever since.
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