alb3808080

Skeletal Reconstruction, Buck Ruxton Murder

Isabella Ruxton reconstructed body no. 2, 1935. Because the body parts of the two victims were jumbled and had to be reassembled, newspapers called the case the "Jigsaw Murders." 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.
Share
pinterestPinterest
twitterTwitter
facebookFacebook
emailEmail

Add to another lightbox

Add to another lightbox

add to lightbox print share
Do you already have an account? Sign in
You do not have an account? Register
Buy this image
Loading...
Title:
Skeletal Reconstruction, Buck Ruxton Murder
Caption:
Isabella Ruxton reconstructed body no. 2, 1935. Because the body parts of the two victims were jumbled and had to be reassembled, newspapers called the case the "Jigsaw Murders." 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.
Credit:
Album / NLM/Science Source
Releases:
Model: No - Property: No
Rights questions?
Image size:
2700 x 4033 px | 31.2 MB
Print size:
22.9 x 34.1 cm | 9.0 x 13.4 in (300 dpi)