H. H. Crippen Didn't Kill Wife, Sez DNA Science

[doug65oh]

It was the stuff that nightmares were made of in Edwardian England.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071016/sc_ ... crippen_dc

[Shelley]

Wow- that IS a corker of a story! Who knew?? I wonder what will happen next?

[Kat]

Notice it says that poisoners don't mutilate and want a "natural death" on the death cert & want to walk away?

Anyway, it's not impossible the sample tissue was not from the Crippen case at all.

Interesting update- Doug-Oh! Thanks!

[Tina-Kate]

This is one of the cases I was introduced to as a child thru my father's true crime interest (he was a policeman in England as a young man just following WWII).

So many possibilities here.

It is also possible the supposed descendants of Cora are not related to her at all even tho they may think they are blood.

My dad was raised in such a "hush-hush" manner & under the name of a family who were in fact his foster parents. He found out his real name & that of his birth mother before going into the British army & he thereafter has used his birth name. In the days of yore, children were incorporated into families & told little if anything of their natural origin.

Not uncommon to have a "great aunt" or other so called ancestor who is not related by blood at all...esp in England.

[Shelley]

That is an excellent point about blood relationship. Yes, many families had "skeletons in the closet". Still, Crippen had a LOT of explaining to do as to how that skeleton was in his basement and why he was fleeing like mad with a girlfriend in disguise. Something fishy there......

Being Titanic-obsessed from an early age, the part wireless played in that case was my introduction to Crippen. The Captain of the Montrose came off like a real hero in the press. There is a great novel by Peter Lovesey called The False Inspector Dew all about the famous Dr. Crippen. His likeness at Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors will chill the blood!

[Tina-Kate]

I agree---it's the old white bronco or Scott Peterson being found near the Mexican border with orange hair.

To go to the extent of fleeing the country & having your girlfriend in drag...

[Harry]

I've read little on this case and am therefore weak on the facts. I do remember reading about the police arresting him when the ship arrived, and the girl in disguise, etc. Its been a while.

Was it thought he killed his wife to run off with the other woman?

[Shelley]

That's the ticket Harry! The old "Cherchez la femme!" Here is a nice recap here http://www.titanic-whitestarships.com/T ... 0Story.htm

Ethel was not much to look at- go figure! But then, neither was Crippen!

[Harry]

Thanks, Shelley, that was a quick and easy read.

How interesting in Doug65oh's article that he said at the time that the body was not his wife's.

[Shelley]

Yes, and I would think that scar on her torso would have been pretty compelling evidence too. I suspect we will hear more about this one. DNA can be touchy if one is not absolutely SURE about parentage. That newspaper clipping at the link above says he was guilty of killing an "unknown woman"- perhaps he did not kill his wife- but he sure killed SOME"body"

[Bobbypoz]

I was suprised when the article said that they got evidence from Cora's descendants. I never knew that she even had children. I have never seen it anywhere else that she did have offspring. BUT I have been known to be wrong before!

[Kat]

I've read everything Lovesey ever wrote. Some are not loving the Lovejoy series but I do!
He also has The Black Cabinet collection, 1989, that hosts Angela Carter's "The Fall River Axe Murders."

I cut my teeth on the British "wife-murderers" starting age 16!
I read, last winter, the story of Crippen & Marconi by our Forum's favorite author, Eric Larson: Thunderstruck.

http://www.penandpodium.com/?page=authors&name=larson