Case Study- Ruxton Murder Case

Ruxton Murder Case

•      Informally the case also called

1.    Jigsaw Murders

2.    Bodies under the bridge

3.    Ruxton Murder Case

·      Dr. Ruxton called as Savage Surgeon.

•      On 29th sept 1935, two dismembered bodies were found by the bank of river near a small town of Moffat in scotland.

•      There were two skulls were found. On further investigation, more body parts were also found wrapped in cloths, newspaper, bedsheets, pillow covers etc.

•      Approximately 70 separate sections belonged to 2 skulls were found.

•       Bodies were of different age & height.

•       Eventually, suspicion focused on Dr. Buck Ruxton whose wife and housekeeper were mysteriously missing.

•       It was assumed that one was that of Mrs Ruxton and the other belonged to the housemaid Mary Rogerson.

•      Evidences found...

1.    Newspaper

2.    Skull

3.    Bones (limbs)

4.    Blood sample 

•       With good ante-mortem photos of each victim available, John Glaister, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Glasgow, decided to try to identify both women through photo superimposition.

•       One of the principal difficulties in this technique is placing the skull at the same distance and in the position as the head in the picture.

•       Fortunately for the case, Mrs. Ruxton had been photographed shortly before her death. The local town photographer was able to reconstruct the distances and angles in the ante-mortem photo by using the same gown and tiara in the post-mortem photo.

•       The match between ante and post-mortem photos along with other evidence was good enough to identify Mrs. Ruxton and to convict Dr. Ruxton

•       Because of Dr. Ruxton’s medical background, he knew that various parts of the body, such as fingerprints and ears, could be used to identify the body and thereby lead to the killer.

•       Therefore, he dismembered both victims and further dissected soft tissue from bone.

•       He then packaged the remains and deposited them in parcels across the landscape.

•       In more recent times, others have experimented with this technique. One of the most notable techniques was developed by Tadao Furue, forensic anthropologist at the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory (CIL).

•       Furue used a system that included a large format camera, front surface mirror, and a beam splitter or partial mirror to create his superimpositions.

•       This technique allowed him to use an original life photo to position the skull correctly.

•       N.S. Klonaris and Furue used a variation of this technique to match a fragment of maxilla without teeth with an ante-mortem dental x-ray.

•       In fact, forensic odontologists probably use this technique more than other specialists because the structure and position of teeth, the surrounding bone of the jaws, and odontological repairs provide a great variety of structure that can be compared between ante and post-mortem images.