Scott Leckie spent the first three decades of his life knowing almost nothing about his grandfather. He was little more than a ghost in the family tree.
But when he finally began peeling back the layers of Arthur Bernard Leckie’s life, what he uncovered was fascinating and terrifying in equal measure – and could help explain one of the deepest mysteries of 20th century America: the death of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe.
As Scott traced his grandfather’s footsteps from his early work in the FBI to working as Monroe’s private investigator in her last days, a chilling possibility began to take shape: the mysterious death of the man known to friends as ‘ABL’ may be entangled in the same web of power, secrets and danger that some believe also claimed the life of the world’s most famous woman.
‘ABL died a few months before I was born – and 36 hours before Marilyn [died] – but my father never spoke of him,’ Scott, now 63, told the Daily Mail.
ABL was born in the deep south of Alabama – a place vastly different to Orange County, California, where Scott grew up.
Scott left the U.S. for good in 1985 but returned in 1992 to visit his father. Over dinner, and after a few glasses of wine, he admitted: ‘My dad died 30 years ago today.’
‘I was shocked and asked Dad to tell me more – he did. It started a 30-year process of understanding who ABL was,’ Scott said.
In his book, Shrewd Little Sleuth, Scott details public facts, letters sent from legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and his predictions about what happened to ABL.
Arthur Bernard Leckie, known as ABL, was an FBI agent, private investigator and observer of key historical events from the 1930s to 1960s. He is known for his association with Marilyn Monroe before both their deaths in August 1962
Remarkably, Scott was able to obtain a total of 533 FBI files mentioning his grandfather, although 90 were withheld.
‘Opening this box and leafing through these decades-old documents all about my granddad was a magical experience, like discovering buried treasure,’ Scott wrote.
‘The man I never knew suddenly came to life, yet I wonder what was in the remaining 90 files.’
Reading through the papers, Scott found fragments of information about a man who moved like a shadow through some of the 20th century’s most volatile moments.
Scott described ABL as a Forrest Gump-like character – someone who seemed to be a key player at countless political moments from the 1930s to 1960s.
‘He was a Special Agent, a G-man, at the FBI during its earliest days working closely with J. Edgar Hoover and his deputy and then-secret lover Clyde Tolson,’ Scott said.
In his early career, ABL joined the FBI during the bureau’s formative years, working closely with Hoover.
After five years, and despite a public statement praising him, ABL was forced out of the FBI in 1939, and did not voluntarily resign.
Scott Leckie spent the first 30 years of his life knowing nothing about his grandfather ‘ABL’
Scott never discovered the reason why – but, oddly, did learn that ABL remained in contact with Hoover for the next 23 years until his death.
From there, he worked for the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor, led security at the founding meetings of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, and later became involved in the Joseph McCarthy-era Hollywood purges.
Perhaps the most intriguing detail is that, just months before his death, he was hired as a private investigator by Marilyn Monroe.
At the time, communism was a major concern in America, and Monroe herself was under suspicion for having communist sympathies.
‘As a private investigator, my grandfather outed alleged communists in Hollywood. Marilyn hired ABL because she knew she was being watched. She was the most famous woman in the world at that time,’ Scott said.
‘Her life was incredibly complicated. Others confirmed her house had been bugged.
‘It’s also well known now that she was having an affair with President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy.
‘According to my dad, she hired ABL to find out who was “terrorising her”.
‘Allegedly, eight different entities were spying on her at the same time. ABL investigated in July 1962 and presumably discovered quickly who, or what, was spying on her.’
ABL met Monroe on either August 1 or 2, 1962, to discuss the findings of his investigation into the ‘eight different entities’ spying on her. The next day, ABL was found dead. Monroe died on the evening of August 4, 1962
Scott had been told by others that ABL and Monroe met on either August 1 or 2 in 1962 to discuss his findings.
Less than two days later, ABL was found dead in his Beverly Grove apartment at 8561 Colgate Avenue on August 3, 1962. The front door was left open. His death was unexpected – and poorly explained.
A great deal of suspicion surrounded his untimely death at the age of 57. In various documents – his death certificate, newspaper accounts, obituaries and more – his death was attributed to a range of different causes, including diabetes, a short illness, alcoholism and a collapse.
‘I’m thinking about a fifth and perhaps more likely explanation: murder,’ Scott said.
Monroe died on the evening of the very next day – August 4, 1962. To this day, the exact details remain shrouded in mystery.
The 36-year-old actress was found dead naked, lying face down on her bed holding a telephone receiver in her hand. Her psychiatrist broke into her room at 3.30am.
Marilyn’s death was officially ruled as ‘probable suicide’ by the coroner’s office, but many have their own theories.
‘What I do know is ABL might have known just enough to get him killed 36 hours before Marilyn’s death just up the road,’ Scott said.
‘I don’t know the answers, but what I do know is that he was pronounced dead four different ways – one [was] being found face down with the front door ajar and Marilyn’s private number in his back pocket.
‘At the time, ABL was believed to have been living with a man called Carlos, who has never been found or identified.
‘Even my dad was suspicious about the autopsy results but couldn’t get his hands on a copy of them.
‘It would be nice to know what happened – if he was murdered, or fell down a set of stairs and died. It would be nice to know the answers.’
When ABL died, Scott’s father, a Los Angeles lawyer, inherited hundreds of his top-secret files. But he destroyed all of them after reading.
To this day, Scott wonders what his dad had discovered about his father.
‘If he was shocked, we all would’ve been too,’ he said.
For Scott, the most interesting aspect of the story was how he was able to get to know his grandfather through the documents left behind. He wonders if perhaps he knows ABL better than his own parents.
The search for answers continues – but for now, ABL lives only in Scott’s dreams.
