Jenny Maxwell in the early 1960s.

“Murder of an Elvis Girl”: Moorehouse tells the story behind his book in free library program

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Livingston County writer Buddy Moorehouse recently published his first book – a fascinating true-crime story that solves a 40-year-old Hollywood family murder mystery.

And on Tuesday night, he’ll be giving the entire backstory on how it all came to be.

The Howell Carnegie District Library is hosting Moorehouse in a Zoom program on Tuesday, May 11, from 6:30-8 p.m. Registration is free, and because it’s a virtual program, you can attend from anywhere in the world.

All the details and the registration are available by clicking here.

Moorehouse, a longtime Livingston County newspaper editor and blogger for the Livingston Post, published the book on Amazon in February. It’s called “Murder of an Elvis Girl: Solving the Jenny Maxwell Case,” and it’s available by clicking here.

Jenny Maxwell

Moorehouse detailed the story in a blog on the Livingston Post, and it’s a fascinating tale of Hollywood, fame, sex, drugs and murder.

All of which involve his mother’s first cousin, Jenny Maxwell, a famous Hollywood actress from the 1960s whose most famous role was starring in “Blue Hawaii” with Elvis Presley.

Maxwell was murdered in Beverly Hills in 1981 alongside her second husband, a famous L.A. divorce attorney named Ervin “Tip” Roeder. The public was told at the time that the murders were part of a botched robbery attempt, and that’s what Moorehouse and his family were always led to believe.

Two years ago, Moorehouse began a journey to find out the truth, or perhaps convince the police to reopen the case.

What he found is that the murders were actually solved in 1981, less than two weeks after they happened. The truth has never come out – until now.

Elvis Presley and Jenny Maxwell in “Blue Hawaii.”

“Jenny and my mom were very close when they were kids, and they just adored each other,” Moorehouse said. “It was heartbreaking for her when Jenny was murdered, and it was even more unsettling because the murder was never solved. That’s why I wanted to find out the truth – so that my mom could finally have some peace in her heart.”

After researching the story for more than a year, Moorehouse began writing “Murder of an Elvis Girl” in early 2020. He finished the book in early 2021 and published it on Amazon.

Tuesday’s event for the Howell Carnegie District Library is the first time he’s done a program on the book.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’ll be going through the story, showing some photos and videos of Jenny from her TV and movie days, and explaining how the police cracked the case. Her life was so fascinating and heartbreaking. There are also some new developments that have happened since the book came out, and I’ll be talking about those.”

The paperback version of “Murder of an Elvis Girl,” by Buddy Moorehouse.

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The Livingston Post is the only locally owned, all-digital information and opinion site in Livingston County, Mich. It was launched by award-winning journalists who were laid off from the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus by Gannett Co. Inc. in 2009.