Dr Crippen- 1910

 

In February 1910 music hall singer Cora Crippen disappeared. She was the wife of Dr H.H. Crippen, last seen at a party in their home on the 31st of January. Dr Crippen said she had returned to the U.S. and died unexpectedly. Cora's friends remained suspicious and asked Scotland Yard to investigate. When interviewed again he confessed that she hadn't died but run off with a lover called Bruce Miller, he had lied due to embarrassment. 

A few days later Crippen fled with a young lover Ethel Le Neve, who disguised as his son, boarded the S.S. Montrose, destined for Canada. The police searched his home and discovered a human torso – head and limbs missing under the cellar floor. A pathologist was unable to identify the sex of the body but concluded it was Cora’s due to the scar she was said to have. The body also had traces of poison that Crippen had bought shortly before his wife’s disappearance. Meanwhile the ships captain who had luckily been following the case, spotted the suspicious couple onboard and telegraphed to England to alert the authorities and arrest the couple on their arrival.

Crippen was found guilty of his wife’s murder and hung in November 1910. Ethel Le Neve was acquitted, and he maintained his innocence.

In 2007 DNA tests suggested the torso was of a man’s. Was Dr. Crippen truly guilty of his wife's murder?