FBI Opens Probe Into 'Stolen' Jackie O Letter

Kennedy plumber's son sold it to dealer for $6K
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 13, 2009 7:15 PM CDT
FBI Opens Probe Into 'Stolen' Jackie O Letter
Max Kennedy attends a '40 Years Later' conference October 11, 2002 in the Palacio of the Conventions in Havana City, Cuba.   (Getty Images)

The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into a condolence letter written by Jackie Kennedy on the day after Robert Kennedy died, the Dallas Morning News reports. Sent to Ethel Kennedy, the two-page letter soon disappeared—and turned up 10 years ago in the home of the Kennedy family plumber. The plumber's son ended up selling it to a dealer for $6,000.

The letter changed hands three more times, for prices up to $30,000, until a buyer consigned it for sale at an auction house—where it sat for 3 years until the FBI seized it with a search warrant. Now buyers and sellers of the letter are deflecting blame, and Max Kennedy, Robert and Ethel's son, wants a prosecution if laws were in fact broken. "The efficient running of society requires that criminals be prosecuted," he said. (More Jackie Onassis stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X