Vicki Morgan's accused killer goes on trial
Much is known about Vicki Morgan's life, perhaps too much. For twelve years she was the lavishly kept mistress of Alfred Bloomingdale. The multimillionaire former head of Diners Club was part of Ronald Reagan's "kitchen cabinet," and his widow Betsy is a close friend of Nancy Reagan's. Shortly before Bloomingdale died of cancer in 1982, Morgan, then 29, filed a $5 million palimony suit that publicized the lurid details of their affair.
About Vicki Morgan's death, however, far too little is clear. No one disputes that she was clubbed to death in her bed with a baseball bat last July. Her roommate of three weeks, Marvin Pancoast, an emotionally disturbed Hollywood habitue and avowed homosexual, walked into a Los Angeles police station and confessed, "I did it. I killed Vicki." His case went to court last week, but Pancoast has now recanted his confession. His attorney, Arthur Barens, has charged that "persons unknown" killed Morgan to suppress videotapes of her having sex with Bloomingdale and several prominent Government officials.
Such tapes not only would produce a sensational trial but would also send tremors through Washington—if indeed they exist. Barens has had subpoenas issued to the FBI, the CIA and the Los Angeles police department for any videotapes and documents pertaining to Morgan's Washington liaisons. No names were listed in the court documents, but Barens told reporters his client maintains that Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese was among Morgan's filmed partners. Claims Barens: "We have information that the videotapes exist and that the Government has them." Last month Meese told TIME he had never met Vicki Morgan.
Stories about the incriminating footage first surfaced on the day of Morgan's funeral. Robert Steinberg, a Beverly Hills lawyer with a flair for self-promotion, announced that a mysterious blond woman carrying a Gucci bag had handed him three of the videotapes. When he was asked for proof, Steinberg claimed that the tapes had been stolen from his office. A grand jury later indicted him for filing a false robbery report. Marvin Mitchelson, the celebrity divorce lawyer who filed Morgan's palimony suit, insists that a White House aide confirmed over a year ago that there were such tapes.
Despite all the rumors and allegations, there is no evidence that the tapes ever existed. Police, prosecutors and the FBI have all denied any knowledge of them. TIME, in seeking to track down the rumors, interviewed many people who were supposed to have known about the tapes. The investigation uncovered no trace of them.