October 28, 2009

CGT 101, Fall Semester

Assignment 10: Forensic Imaging

http://files.myopera.com/Samson
%20Isberg/albums/30265/ruxton.jpg

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 would 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:

In a little country village, just to the north of England along the borders of Scotland

lays a lush idyllic pastoral setting with gently rolling hills and peaceful valleys and in

the heart of this lies a beautiful called 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! The Palatine Hall where the man killed his wife and her

maidservant still exist 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

places where it all occurred do not have records of this gruesome crime nor do they

publish photos of it! (Glasgow, 2009)

THE CRIME AND THE VICTIMS:

On September 29, 1935 the murder of Isabella Kerr, the common law wife of Dr.

Buck Ruxton, and her maidservant Mary Rogerson occurred. After first these two

women were just missing but then people in Moffat and Manchester found parts of

bodies. 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 murders. This case proved to be one of

the longest one in history to solve, as the evidence that was found couldn’t go to

the lab to get figured out and 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, from Lancaster, England and throughout Moffat and Dumfries shire Scotland,

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:

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, M.D., D.Sc. Barrister at Law, Regious Professor of

Forensic Medicine, University of Glasgow. After this case they both co-authored a

book that they became famous for and though revised some over the years is still

used in forensic researches today, Medico-Legal Aspects of the Ruxton Case. Dr.

Sydney Smith helped Jr. Glaister tremendously with the job of solving this case, the

case of Buck Ruxton, though he is rarely mentioned and often forgotten. (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!

The problem with this technique was that they didn’t know the scale of the portraits

being used to match up the body parts. In order to fix this problem, a mannequin

was set up wearing the same garments and tiara that were worn in one of the

portraits of Mrs. Ruxton. Then they took a picture of the mannequin in the same

orientation as the portrait and were able to figure out the scale of the pictures. The

hands of each of the victims had had all of their fingertips cut off in order to avoid

identification. This made the case more difficult to solve except the leading forensic

detectives judged that the ways that the fingers were mutilated showed that the

person who cut them off knew how to use a scalpel and had anatomical training.

This pointed towards Dr. Ruxton, who was a trained physician. Using all of these

techniques, forensic experts were able to find Dr. Ruxton guilty of the murders of

Isabella Ruxton and Mary Rogerson.

In a twist, that the fictional Gil Grissom of CSI would relish, scientist in this case

relied on maggots to establish the time of death here and they also used blood

stains, fingerprints and other clues that were fairly new and unheard of at that time.

All clues led to Isabella’s common-law husband, a physician named Dr. Buck

Ruxton. He was subsequently convicted and hanged, although he confessed to his

grisly crimes. Ultimately, it was the forensic evidence that led to his capture.
(Medicine, 2006)
 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
PHOTOGRAPHS:

A view of
Lancashire England sometime in 1984.
http://www.haworthassociation.org/England/jessie3.jpg

A view of the
Palatine Hall, the place where Dr. Ruxton and wife shared an apartment there that
they called home. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/2590071895_e69ab4d481.jpg
The hillside near Palatine Hall, outside of Lancashire England.

The chapel in Moffat near one of the places that Dr. Ruxton flung the murdered
remains of his wife and her maidservant.
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/towns/moretpix358.html

http://wallpaperstock.net/dumfriesshire-hills_wallpapers_8037_1024x768_1.html
A photograph of the rolling hills of Dumfries shire, which is another place were Dr.
Ruxton flung the murdered remains of his wife and her maidservant.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VPb26dGE5Ps/SHb6rmJGHGI/AAAAAAAAAK0/19I-
j0UrRhI/s400/dc+Lancashire.jpg

Photographs of Isabella Ruxton and her maidservant, Mary Rogerson

http://heritage.scotsman.com/bloodymonday/Till-death-do-us-part.2687912.jp

A photograph showing the crime solving technique of

forensic imaging---used to help solve the crime.

the Bath that Dr. Ruxton used to dismember his wife

and her maidservant in
http://www.gradwellphotography.co.uk/ruxton.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/media/detailed/iii_b_405.jpg
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/media/detailed/iii_b_411.jpg

Dr. John Glaister, Jr. on the left.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/media/detailed/iii_b_424.jpg
http://www.fmap.archives.gla.ac.uk/Case%20Files/Ruxton/Ruxton_enlarged2.htm
Dr. James Couper Brash, fourth man from the left.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/media/detailed/iii_b_432.jpg