Dorothy Kilgallen

Case background and investigation

Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was one of America's most prominent journalists, a syndicated columnist, and a panelist on the CBS game show What's My Line? In the months before her death, she had been actively investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and had obtained the full transcript of Jack Ruby's testimony.

On the morning of November 8, 1965, Kilgallen was found dead in her New York City townhouse at 45 East 68th Street. She was found fully dressed and sitting upright in bed in a room she rarely used. The medical examiner ruled her death was caused by a combination of alcohol and barbiturates.

Many aspects of her death raised questions. She was found in a room not her own, wearing clothes she would not typically sleep in, and with a book she had already finished reading placed beside her. Her investigation files on the JFK assassination disappeared and have never been found.

Kilgallen had told friends she was about to break the Kennedy assassination case wide open. Some researchers believe she was murdered to silence her investigation, while others accept the accidental overdose ruling. Her death has remained a subject of debate among JFK assassination researchers for decades.