On this day, June 15, in 1955, Palm Beach County Judge Curtis Chillingworth and his wife, Marjorie, were forced from their home into a boat and thrown overboard with lead weights strapped to their legs.
The hitmen were hired by another judge, Joseph Peel, after Chillingworth warned Peel about protecting gambling moonshining operations.
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The murder investigation hit a standstill until five years later. Police taped one of the hitmen, Floyd “Lucky” Holzapfel, drunkenly bragging to cronies about taking care of the judge and his wife.
Holzapfel described the entire crime, including Judge Chillingworth’s last words to Marjorie, “Remember, I love you.” And his wife’s reply “I love you, too,” before she was shoved into the ocean.
Peel received two life sentences.
— Scott McCabe
