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a photo of Violet, taken in 1956, by photographer Jackson Levi, six months before her death January 6th, 1940 - February 2nd, 1957
SOLVED
Violet Charlotte Blackwood was an American socialite, youngest daughter and child of Otis Blackwood, the CEO of Blackwood Enterprises between 1939 and 1960.
Violet was born in Mary's Field, Virginia on January 6th, 1940. She was the youngest of eight children, the third daughter. Growing up, Violet was often in the spotlight, a little miss perfect, the innocent little one of her family. In multiple diary entries, in her teens, Violet would go into graphic detail about being raped by her father's friends.
She'd often go into detail about her life, how broken she felt her family was, how her father abused her mother, Dorothy Blackwood (nee Olive). When Violet was seventeen, the Blackwoods were spending a month in New York, mostly because they had multiple charity events. On the night of February 2nd, 1957, the Blackwoods were at a party. Violet was mostly hanging around her oldest sister; twenty-four year old, Olive Blackwood. A few hours into the party, Violet told Olive she was gonna head out for some fresh air, and Olive said okay.
So, Violet walked away, and then two hours passed and she hadn't come back. And the Blackwoods were leaving. And Violet was nowhere to be found.
For a week, it was originally suspected that she'd run away. The family went back to Mary's Field and tried to move on. After a week, Violet's body was discovered by a boy scout troop, a bullet wound in her head. She was sent back to Mary's Field and laid to rest in the Blackwood Family Cemetery.
For the next two years, the case remained unsolved. Then George Elias, an employee at Maxwell & Sons, a major business rival of Blackwood Enterprises at the time, wandered into a police station, in tears, confessing to the murder of Violet Blackwood. He explained that his boss, the CEO of Maxwell & Sons, Harrington Maxwell, had told, practically ordered, George to 'go and kill a Blackwood'. He wanted to 'throw Otis off his feet'. He chose Violet because when he arrived to the party he knew the Blackwoods were at, she was right outside.
He put her in his car, drove her two hours away, and shot her in the head. Her final words were "Just let me go!". Maxwell & Sons was shut down, Harrington Maxwell shot himself the day before his trial, and George Elias was arrested and imprisoned, dying in 2001.
