Curtis Chillingworth

Curtis Eugene Chillingworth (October 24, 1896 – June 15, 1955) was an American attorney and judge who disappeared from his home in Manalapan, Florida and was presumed murdered along with his wife, Marjorie Chillingworth.

Their disappearances and deaths are recounted in the Investigation Discovery series A Crime to Remember (Season 1 Episode 3).

Background Curtis Chillingworth was born October 24, 1896

Police investigation An accidental drowning during a morning swim was quickly ruled out, and $40 found in Marjorie's pocketbook ruled out robbery. The keys were still in the ignition of Chillingworth's Plymouth automobile. No further clues were obtained and (at that point) the case went cold. The couple were declared legally dead in 1957. He was sent to death row, but his death sentence was commuted in 1966; he died in prison thirty years later. On March 30, 1961, Peel was found guilty of accessory to murder. He received two life sentences, but was paroled in 1982 while seriously ill with cancer, and died nine days later. Lincoln was granted immunity from prosecution in return for testifying against Peel; he later moved to Chicago after the trial.

Aftermath Having denied his guilt, Peel delivered a deathbed confession after his release, a week before his demise, in 1982, admitting to unchecked ambition and to greedily accepting bribes from gambling bosses and moonshiners, and that Judge Chillingworth was a roadblock to his schemes, stating: "I was to go from state attorney to attorney general to governor". However, he claimed that, with regards to the murders, he was guilty only of knowing what was going to happen and failing to stop it, accusing Barney Barnett, one of his criminal contacts who had died in 1960, of being the mastermind of the crimes.