Starr Faithfull (born Marian Starr Wyman, January 27, 1906 – June 6, 1931) was an American socialite and a model for the Walter Thornton Modeling Agency whose mysterious drowning death in 1931 became a much-covered tabloid story. Newspapers published allegations that she had been sexually abused as a child by Andrew James Peters, a wealthy, prominent politician and former mayor of Boston (1918–1922). Peters was reportedly suspected of murdering her. Investigators were unable to determine whether her death was a homicide or a suicide, and her death remains unsolved.
Faithfull was found dead on the beach at Long Beach, New York, on the south shore of Long Island, on the morning of June 8, 1931. An autopsy found that she had died by drowning, but also bore many bruises, apparently caused by beating or rough handling, and a large dose of a sedative in her system. Investigators initially thought Faithfull's death was a homicide and that she had either been pushed into deep water or forcibly held under shallow water. Her stepfather accused Peters of having her killed to prevent her from revealing the sexual abuse. However, the homicide theory was called into question by letters that Faithfull had written shortly before her death which suggested she planned to take her own life. A grand jury convened to hear evidence returned an open verdict, and the case was closed with no definitive conclusion as to whether Faithfull's death was a homicide, suicide, or an accident.
Faithfull's death made national and international news due to its many sensational aspects, including her youth, beauty, promiscuity, and flapper lifestyle, as well as the allegations about Peters. The evidence included Faithfull's diary, which contained explicit descriptions of her sexual liaisons with nineteen different men, including one she called "AJP," who was thought to be Peters. Time magazine called the story a "sexy death mystery" with a "perfect front-page name."
Faithfull's story has inspired several fictional works, the best known of which is John O'Hara's 1935 novel BUtterfield 8. The case has been explored in numerous non-fiction books, including British crime historian Jonathan Goodman's 1990 true crime book The Passing of Starr Faithfull, which won a Gold Dagger award.
Family Starr Faithfull was born Marian Starr Wyman (nicknamed "Bamby") in Evanston, Illinois, on January 27, 1906, the first daughter of Frank Wyman II, an investment banker, and his wife Helen MacGregor Pierce of Andover, Massachusetts. In 1907, the family moved to Montclair, New Jersey, where a second daughter, Elizabeth Tucker "Sylvia" Wyman, was born in 1911.
Starr's mother Helen came from a wealthy, socially established family, but her father Frank lost his fortune before she was married, leaving her relatively poor. Her cousin Martha had married Andrew James Peters,Goodman, pp. 19, 67. a career politician who served as member of both the Massachusetts House and Senate; a U.S. congressman; an assistant secretary of the Treasury under U.S. President Woodrow Wilson; and mayor of Boston from 1918 to 1922. As mayor, Peters was known for his failure to avert the 1919 Boston Police Strike, which helped raise the national profile of Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge later was elected as vice president and president of the United States. Peters was also a friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was governor of New York at the time of Starr's death and who also later became president.Goodman, p. 76.
Helen and her daughters frequently visited her wealthy Massachusetts relatives, including Peters and his wife Martha. The Peters family were among the relatives who helped support the Wymans by giving Helen monetary gifts and paying for her daughters' private school educations.Goodman, pp. 21–23. Starr attended private school in Brookline, Massachusetts, until 1921, when she enrolled at the Rogers Hall School in Lowell. She spent summers with the Peters family at their home. Andrew often took the young girl on trips alone with him, during which the two stayed in hotels.
In the winter of 1923–24, Starr left the Rogers Hall School during the Christmas break and never returned, though her relatives had paid for the spring term. She was, at that time, merely five months from graduation. Her parents divorced in 1924, and the following year her mother married Stanley Faithfull; her daughters took his name. Stanley, a widower who was previously married to the governess of Leverett Saltonstall, was a self-employed inventor and entrepreneur who failed at numerous business ventures and earned little or no money.Goodman, pp. 23–35. He also had a history of bringing lawsuits for money. The Faithfulls initially settled in West Orange, New Jersey, but lost their heavily mortgaged house to foreclosure and moved to an apartment at 12 St. Luke's Place in New York City. This was their residence at the time of Starr's death in 1931. Jimmy Walker, then the mayor of New York City (from 1926 to 1932), lived a few houses away at 6 St. Luke's Place.
Alleged abuse by Peters
During Faithfull's teenage years, she began to show signs of emotional disturbance. She eventually received psychiatric treatment, including a short voluntary stay in the Channing Sanitarium, a mental hospital in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In June 1926, Faithfull divulged to her mother that Peters had been sexually abusing her for years, beginning when she was aged 11. Faithfull alleged that Peters read her sex instructions written by Havelock Ellis and drugged her with ether before abusing her.
Stanley engaged an attorney and, in 1927, negotiated a written settlement agreement with Peters, whereby he paid the Faithfulls $20,000—supposedly to cover Starr's medical care and rehabilitation—in return for keeping the abuse secret. Although the settlement document stated this was a one-time payment, the Faithfulls received several additional large payments from Peters and may have been extorting him. The total amount paid by Peters has been estimated at around $80,000. These payments appeared to be the only source of income for Faithfull's family.Russell, A City in Terror, p. 226. It was later discovered that the Faithfulls had contacted Peters and others close to him just before Starr's disappearance and sent him a letter while she was missing, asking for more money.
According to author Jonathan Goodman, the police evidence file indicated that by 1931, gangsters unrelated to the Faithfulls had also learned about the alleged abuse, using this knowledge to extort money from Peters shortly before Faithfull's death.Goodman, pp. 274–275. Russel Crouse, who wrote an early true crime account of the case, stated that the investigators "did come upon some evidence that someone other than the Faithfull family had heard the story and had attempted to make use of it in Boston."
Lifestyle Investigators learned after Faithfull's death that her mother and stepfather, acting on doctors' advice, had paid artist Edwin Megargee to be her "sex tutor" and teach her how to have normal sexual relations after her traumatic experiences with Peters. Money received from Peters was also used to send her away on cruises to the Mediterranean, the West Indies and five or six times to the United Kingdom, where she stayed for extended periods in London. When not going on cruises, Faithfull regularly attended the "bon voyage" parties held on ocean liners in port before their departures from New York, often socializing with the ships' officers. At one point she claimed to be engaged to an officer, who denied it and left her stranded in London without funds.Goodman, p. 214. Faithfull regularly visited nightclubs and speakeasies, drank and used drugs, once nearly overdosing on sleeping pills in London. In March 1931, she was briefly committed to Bellevue Hospital after being found drunk, naked and beaten in a New York hotel room; she had checked into the hotel as "Joseph Collins and wife," with a man she had apparently just met.Nash, p. com/books?id=bzohCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78#v=onepage&q&f=false 76 .
On May 29, 1931, a few days before her death, Faithfull attended a party on the Cunard liner RMS Franconia to see the ship's doctor, Dr. George Jameson-Carr. She had been infatuated with Carr for some time and considered him the love of her life, although he did not return her affections. After Carr made Faithfull leave his sitting room because the ship was departing, she remained on deck when Franconia left the dock, despite having no ticket (which at that point she could not afford). Upon being discovered, she was forcibly removed from the ship and sent back to the pier on a tugboat, screaming, "Kill me! Throw me overboard!"Nash, p. 78. Newspapers and Faithfull's friends later reported that she had attempted to stow away in order to be with Carr and return to London.Goodman, pp. 147, 253. However, in a letter to Carr, she wrote that she did not intend to stow away and had simply become too drunk to disembark. This explanation may have been intended to protect Carr from getting into trouble with his employer, Cunard, over the incident.
Death In the days leading up to her disappearance and death, Faithfull kept a busy social schedule. She was seen by numerous witnesses, including her friends and family as well as taxi drivers and other strangers. Faithfull's family last saw her on the morning of Friday, June 5, 1931, leaving the house in the same dress she was wearing when found. Investigators discovered that after she left the house that day, she made multiple trips to ocean liners docked in Manhattan, where she visited ship's officers. After spending the evening with one of them, she got into a taxi late on Friday night and seemingly vanished. She was found dead on a Long Island beach the following Monday morning, on June 8.
Events before discovery of body Thursday, June 4, 1931 After Faithfull's death, a taxi driver and other witnesses reported that on the afternoon of Thursday, June 4, an intoxicated woman whom they later recognized as Faithfull was helped into a cab in front of the Chanin Building on 42nd Street, Manhattan. The taxi driver testified that she stopped to buy additional liquor during her ride and that he drove her to Flushing, Queens, in search of a certain house, but she could not locate it. Faithfull left his cab at a drugstore located at 33rd Avenue and 163rd Street.
On the evening of June 4, Faithfull told her mother and sister that she had attended a party given by publisher Bennett Cerf for actress Miriam Hopkins (whom she confused with actress Peggy Hopkins Joyce) in Cerf's office at 20 E. 57th Street in Manhattan. According to her mother, she mentioned seeing two friends of hers, actors named "Bruce Winston" and "Jack Greenaway", at the party, and said she would be meeting up with them the following night as well. Another friend, Dr. Charles Young Roberts, later said that Faithfull had spent the evening of June 4 with him at The Roosevelt Hotel, visiting a speakeasy and going for a taxi ride.
Friday, June 5, 1931 Faithfull's family reported seeing her for the last time leaving their apartment on St. Luke's Place at 9:30am on the morning of Friday, June 5, wearing an expensive silk dress, hat, gloves, shoes and stockings, and carrying a purse and coat. She had $3 and was planning to have her hair waved. According to her family, Faithfull never returned home.Goodman, pp. 16–17, 161–162.