Every Hill a Burial Place: The Peace Corps Murder Trial in East Africa

by Peter H. Reid

Overview

On March 28, 1966, Peace Corps personnel in Tanzania received word that volunteer Peppy Kinsey had fallen to her death while rock climbing during a picnic. Local authorities arrested Kinsey's husband, Bill, and charged him with murder as witnesses came forward claiming to have seen the pair engaged in a struggle. The incident had the potential to be disastrous for both the Peace Corps and the newly independent nation of Tanzania. Because of the high stakes surrounding the trial, questions remain as to whether there was more behind the final "not guilty" verdict than was apparent on the surface.

Peter H. Reid, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania at the time of the Kinsey murder trial, draws on his considerable legal experience to expose inconsistencies and biases in the case. He carefully scrutinizes the evidence and the investigation records, providing insight into the motives and actions of both the Peace Corps representatives and the Tanzanian government officials involved. Reid does not attempt to prove the verdict wrong but examines the events of Kinsey's death, her husband's trial, and the aftermath through a variety of cultural and political perspectives.

Meticulously researched and replete with intricate detail, this compelling account sheds new light on a notable yet overlooked international incident involving non-state actors in the Cold War era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813179988
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.11(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Peter H. Reid, retired founding director of the Community Law Clinic at Stanford Law School, previously served for more than thirty years as executive director of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County. He lives in Olympia, Washington, and Santa Cruz, California, with his wife Barbara.

Table of Contents

Introduction
A Volunteer is Dead
A Lovely, Creative Woman and an All-American Boy from the South
A Tale of Three Cities
Government Officials Clarify the Situation: Autopsies Are Performed
Peace Corps Officials Visit Scene, Bail Is Sought, Peppy's Body Is Flown to Dar es Salaam
Life in Prison for Bill
The Peace Corps and Tanzania
Peace Corps Officials Assess the Situation and Plan Future Action
Syracuse University Training and Marriage
Peace Corps Training in Tanzania, Binza Upper Primary School
Friends of Peppy
The Peace Corps and Criminal Defense
The Preliminary Inquiry
Peace Corps Faces Challenges
Tanzanian Criminal Law
McHugh and Singh Re-create the Scene of Peppy's Death
Trial Preparation after the Preliminary Inquiry
Medical Analysis by Dr. Tom McHugh
The Trial Begins in Mwanza
Trial Day One: Friday, August 26, 1966
Trial Day Two: Saturday, August 27, 1966
Trial Day Three: Monday, August 29, 1966
Trial Day Four: Tuesday, August 30, 1966
The Peace Corps Book Locker
Trial Day Five: Wednesday, August 31, 1966
Trial Day Six: Thursday, September 1, 1966
Trial Day Seven: Friday, September 2, 1966
Trial Day Eight: Saturday, September 3, 1966
Trial Day Nine: Sunday, September 4, 1966
Trial Day Ten: Monday, September 5, 1966
Trial Day Eleven: Tuesday, September 6, 1966
Trial Day Twelve: Wednesday, September 7, 1966
Trial Day Thirteen: Thursday, September 8, 1966
Trial Day Fourteen: Friday, September 9, 1966
Trial Day Fifteen: Saturday, September 10, 1966
Trial Day Sixteen: Monday, September 12, 1966
Trial Day Seventeen: Friday, September 16, 1966
Trial Day Eighteen: Monday, September 19, 1966
Conclusion
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Dramatis Personae
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Every Peace Corps volunteer has a story to tell. Few, however, are as surprising and suspenseful as this one." — John Coyne, novelist and former Peace Corps staff (Ethiopia)

" Every Hill a Burial Place combines the suspense of a fictional legal thriller with a fascinating look at the early days of the Peace Corps in Africa. I enjoyed it as a former criminal defense attorney, a writer of legal thrillers, and a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Africa at the time of the trial." — Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of A Reasonable Doubt and a former Peace Corps volunteer (Liberia, 1965—1967)

"The violent death of a Peace Corps teacher in Tanzania has shocked, saddened, and perplexed the Peace Corps community for more than fifty years. Was Peppy Kinsey's death a horrific accident, or did her husband, Bill, batter her to death, as some African witnesses claimed? Exhaustive, coherent, thoughtful, and suspenseful, Reid's account of the Kinsey murder trial and its aftermath could well be the final word on this dark event — unless, of course, this remarkable book triggers new revelations." — Richard Lipez, author of the Donald Strachey series and former Peace Corps teacher (Ethiopia, 1962—1964)

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/27/2020

Retired public defender Reid (Schafer State Park with Barbara Seal Ogle) offers the definitive look at a now-obscure 1960s murder trial that threatened the future of the Peace Corps. In 1966, Bill Kinsey became the first program volunteer to be accused of murder after his wife, Peppy, died from head wounds while the two were serving in Tanzania. Bill claimed that Peppy had fallen from a hill, but witnesses said they’d seen the couple fighting before her death, and a blood-stained iron bar and stones were found nearby. Bill was supposed to be afforded the same legal protections as an ordinary citizen of the country, but the prosecution was overmatched by the experienced, mostly white defense team that his family arranged, which got him acquitted. During the case, Bill’s arrest and confinement led Tanzania’s leaders to fear that the U.S. might launch a rescue mission. Reid, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania at the time of the trial, notes problems with both the prosecution and defense cases, leaving doubt as to whether justice was served. Beyond that question, Reid does a thorough job of surveying the dilemma the Peace Corps found itself in over whether it should take sides, and if so, on behalf of which volunteer. While the Peace Corps presented a neutral position to the public, Reid suggests officials seemed to do everything to support Bill’s case and little to examine Peppy’s side of things. This is an excellent complement to Philip Weiss’s account of a different murder case, American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Peter Reid transforms the gripping story of a Peace Corps volunteer death and the acquittal of her husband into an epic study of the Peace Corps from its first days during the Kennedy administration to the present. And, the fact that he successfully places this human tragedy within the complicated and troublesome days of the Cold War and after makes the book a stunning achievement. It is an amazing, suspenseful report about two young American volunteers in Tanzania that also deepens our understanding of the Peace Corps, America, and their entangled history for the last six decades.

David Rudenstine

Peter Reid...has done a superb job in laying out this international drama. He is consistently fact-based, and judicious in his judgments. This is not a pot-boiler or an accusatory effort: it is a fine piece of history of an unlikely event at a fascinating time and place when both the Peace Corps and the Republic of Tanzania were trying to find their way forward.

Peace Corps Worldwide

An authoritative analysis of a personal tragedy in Tanzania that threatened the survival of the Peace Corps in its earliest days. The stakes could not have been higher, and Reid captures with great skill the impact of a complex family drama on the Corps and its relationship with a host country.

Carol Bellamy

"Reid offers the definitive look at a now-obscure 1960s murder trial that threatened the future of the Peace Corps. In 1966, Bill Kinsey became the first program volunteer to be accused of murder after his wife, Peppy, died from head wounds while the two were serving in Tanzania. Bill claimed that Peppy had fallen from a hill, but witnesses said they'd seen the couple fighting before her death, and a blood-stained iron bar and stones were found nearby. Bill was supposed to be afforded the same legal protections as an ordinary citizen of the country, but the prosecution was overmatched by the experienced, mostly white defense team that his family arranged, which got him acquitted...Excellent." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

A fascinating read of a Peace Corps death with potential international implications. Was it a murder or an accident? How should the Peace Corps manage this death where one volunteer was charged with killing another? Could the whole Kennedy Era program be in jeopardy? And most critically, was justice done? Peter Reid's meticulously researched book presents a readable, balanced and critical analysis that sheds light on a baffling death and also gives us a picture of the lives and work of early Peace Corps volunteers in Africa. I highly recommend this book for its historical insights and its reminder that justice is often about who has the best lawyer. A compelling read.

John Frohnmayer

The violent death of a Peace Corps teacher in Tanzania has shocked, saddened, and perplexed the Peace Corps community for more than fifty years. Was Peppy Kinsey's death a horrific accident, or did her husband, Bill, batter her to death, as some African witnesses claimed? Exhaustive, coherent, thoughtful, and suspenseful, Reid's account of the Kinsey murder trial and its aftermath could well be the final word on this dark event—unless, of course, this remarkable book triggers new revelations.

Richard Lipez

Peter Reid has written a meticulously researched and fascinating true story about the ambiguous death of a female Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania in the 1960s and the subsequent prosecution of her husband, a fellow Peace Corps volunteer, for murder. Equally compelling is the backstory about a range of issues receiving intense local and worldwide attention, including calls to "send in the Marines" to rescue the accused, an apparent lack of concern about justice for the deceased, and the perception of special treatment for a white American in a newly independent African nation.

Skip McGinty

Both a movie-ready legal thriller and a study of two cultures brought together to decide a single question.... Peter Reid... has done a superb job in laying out this international drama. He is consistently fact-based and judicious in his judgments.... It is a fine piece of history of an unlikely event at a fascinating time and place when both the Peace Corps and the Republic of Tanzania were trying to find their way forward.

The Foreign Service Journal

Every Hill a Burial Place combines the suspense of a fictional legal thriller with a fascinating look at the early days of the Peace Corps in Africa. I enjoyed it as a former criminal defense attorney, a writer of legal thrillers, and a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Africa at the time of the trial.

Phillip Margolin

Every Peace Corps volunteer has a story to tell. Few, however, are as surprising and suspenseful as this one.

John Coyne

Peter Reid's account of the 1966 Tanzanian murder trial of Peace Corps volunteer Bill Kinsey is suspenseful and gripping. It is also a careful, judicial examination of the difficulties the Peace Corps faced in balancing its responsibilities to the deceased, the accused, and to US relations with Tanzania. Both the research and presentation are masterful.

John Hamilton