Career Girl Murders
The "Career Girl Murders" refers to the brutal killings of Janice Wylie and Emily Hoffert, which occurred on August 28, 1963, in their Manhattan apartment. The case garnered significant media attention, leading to its sensational moniker, as both women were young professionals at the time of their deaths. The investigation into their murders took a controversial turn when George Whitmore, Jr., a nineteen-year-old African American man, was arrested and initially confessed to the crimes after a lengthy interrogation. However, he later recanted, claiming his confession was coerced, leading to questions about the integrity of the police investigation.
As evidence mounted against Whitmore's involvement, attention shifted to Richard Robles, a local man who was ultimately arrested and convicted of the murders in December 1965. The case has had lasting implications, highlighting issues of wrongful convictions and the treatment of suspects within the criminal justice system. It also sparked discussions about the validity of capital punishment, particularly in light of the potential miscarriage of justice in Whitmore's case. The "Career Girl Murders" not only shocked the public but also prompted critical examination of law enforcement practices and the safeguarding of civil rights.
Career Girl Murders
Date: August 28, 1963
One of the most sensationalized crimes in New York City during the 1960’s. The brutal murders of two young working women exemplified the legal controversies brewing over defendant’s rights, police effectiveness, and the death penalty.
Origins and History
On the morning of August 28, 1963, Janice Wylie, a Newsweek magazine employee, and Emily Hoffert, an elementary school teacher, were found brutally murdered in their third-floor Manhattan apartment. The New York press dubbed the sensational crime the “career girl murders.” The women had been tied together and stabbed to death, and Wylie had been sexually assaulted. A third roommate had already left for work at the time of the murders.
The Investigation
In April, 1964, eight months after the murders, police arrested and indicted George Whitmore, Jr., a nineteen-year-old African American man with no previous record who had been picked up for questioning regarding an attempted rape. After twenty-six hours in detention, during which time he was intensively questioned, Whitmore confessed to the attempted rape, to a murder that had occurred ten days earlier, and to the Wylie and Hoffert murders. When he was arraigned, he recanted his confession, saying that it had been coerced. The judge ruled that the confession was voluntary and admitted it as evidence. However, some members of the district attorney’s office, whose job it was to prosecute the case, became convinced that Whitmore was innocent. One assistant district attorney, Melvin Glass, upon carefully reading all of the police records, realized that Whitmore’s confession did not contain a single fact that the police did not know about before his arrest. Further investigation revealed it was virtually impossible for Whitmore to have been in Manhattan at the time of the killings.
About the time that the case against Whitmore was crumbling, the police received information about Richard Robles, who lived only nine blocks from the slain women’s apartment. Nathan Delaney, a friend of Robles and fellow heroin addict, told police that Robles had admitted to the slayings. A month after Delaney told the police about Robles eavesdropping devices were placed in three locations. In January, 1965, on the basis of the information gained by the tapes, Robles was arrested and charged with the murders of Wylie and Hoffert. In December of that year, he was found guilty of two counts of felony murder. During the trial it was revealed that Robles had chosen the apartment to burglarize by chance and entered by climbing from the outer ledge of a hall window into an open kitchen window. He picked up a knife in the kitchen, then sexually assaulted Wylie. When Hoffert unexpectedly entered the room, he tied the women together on the bed and stabbed them to death.
Impact
Whitmore’s indictment for the murders of Wylie and Hoffert was based on a confession that violated standards set by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Mallory v. United States regarding reasonable interrogation before arraignment. This violation of Whitmore’s civil rights came just shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision in Escobedo v. Illinois, which involved a similar situation. In that decision, Justice Arthur Goldberg, writing for the majority, stated that a law enforcement system that relies on confessions instead of corroborating evidence and investigation is “less reliable and more subject to abuse.” Goldberg also wrote that a good legal system has nothing to fear from letting accused people contact their lawyers and exercise their constitutional rights.
The Whitmore case provoked fresh thought about the validity of capital punishment. If the career girl murders had not received such a tremendous amount of publicity, Whitmore might have been executed for a crime he did not commit.
Additional Information
A May 16, 1965, New York Times Magazine article, “The Suspect Confesses But Who Believes Him?” by Sidney E. Zion, highlights the impact the Whitmore confession had on the legal community.