Science casts doubt on famous British murder case
Ninety-seven years after an American was hanged in London in one of the most notorious and famous murder cases in British history, forensic science at Michigan State University is producing evidence that his execution was a mistake.
Dr. Hawley Crippen was hanged for murdering and dismembering his showgirl wife, then fleeing with his mistress across the high seas with the police in hot pursuit. Loaded with enough sordid details and twists to eventually fuel more than 40 books and several movies, this London case is second only to Jack the Ripper in its sensational notoriety.
Back in 1910, it was forensic evidence that brought Crippen down. Now, David Foran, a forensic biologist and director of MSU鈥檚 forensic science program, partnering with clinical and forensic toxicologist John Harris Trestrail III, managing director of the regional poison center in Grand Rapids, is combining state-of-the-art DNA analysis with solid sleuthing to show the remains buried in Crippen鈥檚 basement couldn鈥檛 have been his wife.
鈥淭his can鈥檛 be Cora Crippen,鈥� Foran said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e certain of that.鈥�
For nearly a century, Crippen, a homeopathic physician, was thought to have poisoned his flamboyant and domineering wife with an obscure toxin, dismembered her body and buried little more than tissue in his London cellar. Crippen was labeled 鈥渙ne of the most dangerous and remarkable men who have lived in this century.鈥�
Trestrail has been engrossed by the case for 40 years. One of the nation鈥檚 leading experts in poisoning, he knew dismemberment and poisoning don鈥檛 go together.
鈥淭here were no identifying parts of the remains found, no head, no bones, no organs of gender. I鈥檝e always wondered who is that under the steps?鈥� Trestrail said. 鈥淲as he telling the truth? Now we have the possibility to bring the science of DNA up against actual specimens from the trial to answer the question: 鈥榃as that her under the steps or wasn鈥檛 it?鈥欌��
Trestrail formed a team with Foran and Beth Wills, a genealogist from Ionia, to resolve what he saw as inconsistent evidence.
Foran鈥檚 laboratory specializes in ancient and forensic DNA evidence, often working with human remains that are thousands of years old. The nearly 100-year-old microscope slide, sent to Michigan State from the Royal London Hospital Archives and Museum, is the same one the pathologist Bernard Spilsbury used to help hang Crippen. In 1910, forensic pathology was more primitive;
Spilsbury鈥檚 testimony, identifying what he claimed was an abdominal scar consistent with Cora鈥檚 medical history, convinced the jury that these were Cora鈥檚 remains.
Crippen went to the gallows insisting he was innocent.
The present-day challenge: getting past the pine sap that sealed the slide and the formaldehyde used to preserve the tissue in order to examine the mitochondrial DNA that could identify Cora Crippen based on the genetic history of her maternal relatives.
Mitochondrial DNA is the genetic blueprint that is passed down in the egg from mother to daughter. Unlike regular DNA, which comes from the cell鈥檚 nucleus, Foran explained that mitochondrial DNA remains more stable in aged tissue and is easier to retrieve. Also, mitochondrial DNA remains relatively undiluted through generations, offering a reliable familial match.
Foran鈥檚 laboratory has devised methods to extract and isolate mitochondrial DNA. Unable to break through the sap seal, he chipped away at the slide鈥檚 glass cover slip to get at the tissue sample. One of his graduate students recently studied ways to work around formaldehyde fixation to isolate DNA.
The goal: compare the mitochondrial DNA in the slide that convicted Crippen with Wills鈥� assignment 鈥� finding a maternal relative of Cora Crippen. If Hawley Crippen indeed killed his wife and buried some of her remains in the cellar, those remains would share specific DNA characteristics with Cora Crippen鈥檚 current day relatives. To paraphrase the famed attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Johnnie Cochran, if the DNA doesn鈥檛 fit, you can鈥檛 convict.
Wills spent some seven years pouring through genealogical records and taking on the somewhat nontraditional task of finding living female relatives of Cora Crippen鈥檚 mother.
鈥淯sually, in genealogy, you work backwards, but in this case, we went forward,鈥� she said.
As she traced through the family line, she found elderly relatives who remembered talk of a family scandal, one where a woman had been murdered by her husband in London. She ultimately located three grandnieces.
鈥淲e took a lot of precautions when doing this testing,鈥� Foran said. 鈥淲e just didn鈥檛 stop. We went back and started from scratch and tested it again. The DNA in the sample is different from the known relatives of Cora Crippen.鈥�
鈥淐rippen was not convicted just of murder 鈥� but the murder of Cora Crippen,鈥� Trestrail said. 鈥淚f that body is not Cora, then that鈥檚 another trial.鈥�
Source: Michigan State University
