New York Post, Sunday, November 15, 2020nypost.comlab director at the time, a troubled man
who spent at least one evening alone with
Britton.
And so it was that Cooper focused on Lee
Parsons, an anthropology professor who
came to Harvard in 1968 on the promise
he’d eventually run the Peabody.C
OOPer learned that Parsons battled
demons after leaving Harvard,
which never gave him the promo-
tion. He came out as gay, drank
heavily and was prone to raging outbursts.
His close friend, Stephen Loring, told her
that he guzzled booze and acted erratically
during a dig they went to one year later in
Guatemala. It was there that Parsons re-
vealed that he’d been accused of murder.
“I’m very comfortable with Lee Parsons
as the culprit,” Loring told Cooper.
Parsons was now dead, having suc-
cumbed to AIDS in 1996, but Cooper pur-
sued every angle, scouring the interviews
Parsons and others gave to Cambridge po-
lice. She connected with a friendly ser-
geant, Peter Sennott, who worked the case
for 21 years, and she demanded that cops
release the entire case file. They refused.Cobble Hill
Cecily Von Ziegesar
(fiction, Atria Books)
In Cobble Hill, four married
couples grapple (often hilari-
ously) with parenting, ca-
reers, and trying to stay hip
as they navigate middle age.
From the bestselling author
of the “Gossip Girl” novels.Toques in Black:
A Celebration of
Black Chefs
Alan Battman
(photography, The
Chef’s Collection)
A photographic cele-
bration of 101 of America’s most talented
black chefs sharing their personal experien-
ces (and their delicious recipes.)No Time Like the Future:
An Optimist Considers
Mortality
Michael J. Fox
(memoir, Flatiron Books)
Beloved actor Michael J. Fox
shares thoughts on aging
and mortality, illness, family
and friends with the opti-
mism and grace he’s become known for
since his 1991 Parkinson’s diagnosis. Funny,
honest and refreshing.The Moth and the
Mountain: A True Story
of Love, War, and Everest
Ed Caesar
(nonfiction, Avid Reader Press)
In the 1930s, a World War I
vet named Maurice Wilson
devised a crazy plan: Fly a
plane from England to Ever-
est, crash land on its lower slopes, and be-
come the first person to reach its summit —
all alone, and with no training.The Kingdom
Jo Nesbo (fiction, Knopf )
Roy has always stayed close
to home, while his brother
Carl left the mountain town,
desperate to escape his past.
When Carl returns with a
new bride and a new busi-
ness opportunity for the
town, long buried secrets (and unexplained
deaths) come to light.The Wolves of Helmand
Frank Biggio
(nonfiction, Forefront Books)
A decade after he first served
his country as a US marine,
Captain Frank “Gus” Biggio
signed up once again, leaving
behind a promising law ca-
reer and his young family to
be deployed to Helmland Province in Afghani-
stan, the most violent region in the war-torn
nation. A gripping and honest memoir of war.REQUIRED
READING
by Mackenzie
Dawsonbration of 101 of America’s most talentedmism and grace he’s become known forest, crash land on its lower slopes, and be-town, long buried secrets (and unexplainedbe deployed to Helmland Province in Afghani-Still, the intrepid Cooper found some of
Britton’s case files, which she trawled for
clues, and got to know Britton’s brother,
Boyd, who handed over his sister’s journal,
photos and documents.
Finally, the Boston Globe’s vaunted Spot-
light team decided to do a story — and
Cooper agreed to help them.
With pressure mounting, Cambridge po-
lice eventually stepped up their efforts. It
turned out there was DNA evidence, after
all — Britton’s underwear stained with se-
men — though investigators doubted they
would get a hit.
All signs suggested Parsons was the like-
liest killer, especially after
Cooper took another look at an
interview he gave to a detect-
ive, who quizzed him about the
scratches he had on his hand.
(Parsons claimed they came
from a cat.)
In 2018, professor Karlovsky
agreed to be interviewed by
Cooper about the crime. He re-
vealed that the Harvard dean
who gave him tenure “didn’t
even ask me if I did it!” Cooperfinally ruled him out and then, months later,
came a bolt from the blue.P
ArSONS’ DNA didn’t match that
found on Britton’s underwear. But
pressure from the Spotlight team led
cops to finally take the step of check-
ing for any suspect whose DNA would pro-
vide a match. From that search came a hit:
Michael Sumpter, a violent career criminal
who spent his life in and out of jail. He was
a serial rapist and killer who stalked and
attacked young women in the Boston area,
including murdering a 23-year-old bru-
nette who resembled Britton in 1972.
The working theory was that Sumpter,
out on parole, had been watching Britton
and when she went into her apartment, he
climbed up a fire escape, opened the win-
dow and killed her.
He too was dead.
The DNA match didn’t explain the red
ochre, however. And how could he have
done it without anyone seeing him or hear-
ing what happened? Cooper wondered:
“The DA’s version made the ending seem
neat and definitive, but the story was too
big at this point for any clear resolution.”
The closing of the case was unsatisfying
to many. Former suspect Gramly was angry
and dubious about the cops’ conclusion.
“All we know for sure is Michael Sumpter
had sex with her,” he told Cooper. “That
still doesn’t prove who did the murder.”
But eventually Cooper, after nearly a
decade investigating the matter, came to
accept that Sumpter was the killer. At the
same time, she drew other conclusions.
She blames the Cambridge PD — for
misconduct and ineptitude — as well as
Harvard, which refused to install locks on
the front door of Britton’s building despite
a separate murder having occurred there
previously. Cooper also believes the uni-
versity did much to quiet the coverage of
Britton’s killing.
But mostly, she felt a kinship for the vic-
tim.
After cops solved the case, they handed
over Britton’s entire file to Cooper. It in-
cluded more than 4,000 pages of police
notes — as well as the dead student’s diary
from her summer dig in Iran.
Some of the entries are writ-
ten as if they were letters to her
boyfriend, Jim Humphries.
One note, dated June 6, 1968,
was addressed to him, but felt
like a chilling plea to Cooper
from beyond the grave:
“Be my chronicler so that the
tale of the Brit is told through-
out the land,” Britton wrote, “or
at least that one person remem-
bers me the way I am instead of
the way they see me.”VERITAS
Harvard student Jane Britton (right
inset) was found murdered in 1969, a
macabre scene left behind. Her adviser
at the time, professor Karl Lamberg-
Karlovsky (left inset), was a prime
suspect. In 2009, Becky Cooper, a
student at Harvard, dug into the mystery
— and uncovered more questions.AP; President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, PM 2004.24.28512AVERITAS