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alb3808761

Forensic Evidence, Buck Ruxton Murder Trial, 1935

Skull no. 2, photograph B, 1935. Investigators photographed the Skull No. 2 in the same orientation as an existing photograph of Isabella Ruxton. Then they laid a photo-transparency of this skull over the portrait to establish that the skull was hers. Buck Ruxton (1899-1936) was a Parsi doctor and murderer who strangled his wife Isabella. In order to prevent their housemaid, Mary Jane Rogerson, from discovering his crime before he could dispose of the body, he suffocated her too. Ruxton then proceeded to dismember and mutilate both bodies to hide their identities. The case is remembered now for the innovative forensic techniques employed in solving it. The bodies were identified using the fledgeling techniques of fingerprint identification, forensic anthropology to superimpose a photograph over the X-ray of a victim's skull and forensic entomology to identify the age of maggots and thus the approximate date of death. This was one of the first cases where such forensic evidence was successfully used to convict a criminal in the United Kingdom.
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Title:
Forensic Evidence, Buck Ruxton Murder Trial, 1935
Caption:
Skull no. 2, photograph B, 1935. Investigators photographed the Skull No. 2 in the same orientation as an existing photograph of Isabella Ruxton. Then they laid a photo-transparency of this skull over the portrait to establish that the skull was hers. Buck Ruxton (1899-1936) was a Parsi doctor and murderer who strangled his wife Isabella. In order to prevent their housemaid, Mary Jane Rogerson, from discovering his crime before he could dispose of the body, he suffocated her too. Ruxton then proceeded to dismember and mutilate both bodies to hide their identities. The case is remembered now for the innovative forensic techniques employed in solving it. The bodies were identified using the fledgeling techniques of fingerprint identification, forensic anthropology to superimpose a photograph over the X-ray of a victim's skull and forensic entomology to identify the age of maggots and thus the approximate date of death. This was one of the first cases where such forensic evidence was successfully used to convict a criminal in the United Kingdom.
Category:
History: Modern • Research: Forensics
Credit:
Album / NLM/Science Source
Releases:
? Model Release: No - ? Property Release: No
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Image size:
2700 x 3495 px | 27.0 MB
Print size:
22.9 x 29.6 cm | 9.0 x 11.7 in (300 dpi)
Keywords: