October 28, 2009
CGT 101, Fall Semester
Assignment 10: Forensic Imaging
MURDER REPORT: THE RUXTON CASE
TEAM #7
Catherine Heiby, Leader
Howard Henson
Ian Sean-Christopher James
Noah M. Raber
Nathaniel Starost
INTRODUCTION:
You might imagine this story coming straight from one of Agatha Christie's murder mysteries...and for the story we shall make our way to the historical city of Lancaster, and as Dawn French might say, explore the tragic details of "a Murder Most Horrid"....This case is mostly remembered now for the gruesomeness of the murders but in some circles this murder is still remembered for the innovative techniques that were employed in solving it. Stories of murder are not very pleasant even in the best of times but this one is still...a murder most intriguing. It made the history books of forensic science and is still referred to today in solving crimes!
THE CRIME SCENE:
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| The hills of Lancastershire |
In a little country village, just to the north of England not far from the border of Scotland. It lays in a lush idyllic pastoral setting with gently rolling hills & peaceful valleys, in the heart of all of this beauty lies the town of Lancaster. Almost exactly 74 years ago from today, on September 14, 1935, there would be a murder here that would leave this town never the same!
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| Palatine Hall, left flat was the Ruxton home |
The Palatine Hall where a man killed his wife and her maidservant still exists but the little country chapel in Moffat Scotland, near the hill where he flung their grisly remains, is now a tumbled-down ruin, and most of the other places where it all occurred too do not have many records of this gruesome crime and most do not even offer photos of it! (Glasgow, 2009)
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| Moffat's Chapel |
On September 29, 1935 the murder of Isabella Kerr, the common law wife of Dr. Buck Ruxton, and her maidservant Mary Rogerson happened one evening over dinner. At first it seemed that these two women went missing but then people in Moffat, Manchester and Dumfries Shire found parts of bodies!
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| Moffat Town |
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| Manchester England |
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| Bridge near Dumfries Scotland |
From the evidence compiled in this investigation, Dr. Buck Ruxton was proved to be guilty of brutally murdering his wife and her maidservant and he was later sentenced in 1936 to hang for both of these murders. This case proved to be one of the longest in history to solve, and this was due to the fact that the evidence couldn’t go to the lab to get figured out! According to one source there were 68 pieces of human flesh, large denuded bones and two other pieces of human body, or bodies, to get all sorted out! Ruxton had mutilated the bodies so badly and spread the pieces of them so far apart from the others that it took weeks just to sort out the case! He flung body parts from Lancaster, England throughout Moffat and Dumfries shire Scotland, that is a range of approximately 150 miles! The evidence so baffled the police that they couldn’t tell if they were looking at the remains of men or of women! Did you know that before this case went to trial the evidences complied against Dr. Ruxton had 298 separate references? (LLC, 2009) (Glasgow, University of Glasgow Archive Services, 2004)
THE CHIEF INVESTIGATORS:
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| Dr. James Couper Brash 1938 |
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| Dr. John Glaister, on left |
This case was solved by two amazing detectives at the famous Scotland Yard: Dr. James Couper Brash, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S.Ed., Professor of Anatomy, University of Edinburgh and Dr. John Glaister Jr., M.D., D.Sc. Barrister at Law, Regious Professor of Forensic Medicine, University of Glasgow. After this case was solved, they both went on to co-author a book that they both became famous for, and though revised several times over over the years it is still used in forensic researches today. The book is entitled, "Medico-Legal Aspects of the Ruxton Case". Also a side note, a Dr. Sydney Smith helped Dr. John Glaister, Jr. tremendously with the job of solving this case though he is rarely mentioned and often forgotten.
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| Book co-written by both Drs. who solved the Ruxton Case |
(Glasgow, UK Forensic Archival Sources: Edinburgh, 2009)
(Glasgow, Case against Dr Buck Ruxton, Lancaster, Moffat & Manchester (1935), 2009)
HOW THE CASE WAS SOLVED:
In order to solve the crime, the forensic experts in Lancashire England used several unique forensic techniques. To figure out which skull belonged to Mrs. Ruxton, the forensic scientists took a picture of each skull in the same orientation as a painting of Mrs. Ruxton. Then they put the pictures on a photo-transparency and laid them over the painting of her and the result showed that skull no.1 did not match the facial outlines of the picture but skull no.2 matched perfectly with the shape of her head, proving that skull no.2 was after all her skull! Skul no. 1 was the skull of the maidservant Mary Rogerson, of course!
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| How photographic superimposition worked----a dress, a tiara and a photograph |
In a twist that the fictional Gil Grissom of CSI would relish, scientists in this case relied on maggots to establish the time of death here; they also used blood stains, fingerprints and other clues that were fairly new and unheard of at that time to solve the case. All clues led to Isabella’s husband, Buck Ruxton, and he was subsequently convicted and sentenced to hang unto death, although he confessed to his grisly crimes. Ultimately, it was the forensic evidence that led to his capture. (Medicine, 2006)
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| Mrs. Ruxton's body reconstructed from parts. |
Works Cited
Glasgow, U. o. (2009, April 21). Case against Dr Buck Ruxton, Lancaster, Moffat & Manchester (1935). Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Forensic Medicine Archive Project: http://www.fmap.archives.gla.ac.uk/Case%20Files/Ruxton/Case_File9.htm
Glasgow, U. o. (2009, April 21). The Case against Dr Buck Ruxton, Lancaster, Moffat and Manchester (1935). Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Forensic Medicine Archives Project: http://www.fmap.archives.gla.ac.uk/Case%20Files/Ruxton/Case_File9.htm
Glasgow, U. o. (2009, April 21). UK Forensic Archival Sources: Edinburgh. Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Forensic Medicine Archive Project: http://www.fmap.archives.gla.ac.uk/Research%20Guide/Archive_sourcesEdin.htm#RCPSE
Glasgow, U. o. (2004, February 3). University of Glasgow Archive Services. Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Forensic Medicine Archive Project: http://www.fmap.archives.gla.ac.uk/Search%20pages/FMEDPublic.pdf
LLC, W. L. (2009). Buck Ruxton. Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Multilingual Archive: http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Buck_Ruxton/1#Background
Medicine, U. N. (2006, February 16). The Buck Ruxton "Jigsaw Murders" Case. Retrieved October 28, 2009, from Visible Proofs: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/galleries/cases/ruxton_image_2.html
I got a very high A on this paper, as did all of the others in the group. Now one of my team members has sold this paper to Squibd, which angered me because he did not ask anyone's permission nor did he warn us of what he was about to do. He does not alone own this paper (his name is Noah Raber); this paper is in fact collectively owned by all 5 of us.
Just so you know---
Signed Catherine Heiby
AFTERWARD:
After the execution of Dr. Buck Ruxton a sealed envelope, containing instructions regarding his diary, was opened. The last page of his diary read, "I killed Mrs
Ruxton in a fit of temper because I thought she had been with a man. I was mad at the time. Mary
Rogerson was present at the time. I had to kill her".
It is said that Dr. Ruxton did not want to “...die with a lie on his lips....”?
