Was Dr Crippen Wrongfully Executed?

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Free Cash, homeopathy, Holy Harvey Krippen, London
2. 5:00 – 10:00: London, Ethel Lenev, Duet Institute for the Death, James Munan
3. 10:00 – 15:00: London, Kora Krippen, Ethel Lenev, Frank Fro
4. 15:00 – 20:00: London, SS Montro, Holy Harvey Krippen, Brussels
5. 20:00 – 25:00: London, forensic pathology, Old Bailey, Kora Krippen
6. 25:00 – 30:00: forensic pathology, scopolamine
7. 30:00 – 31:33: Free Cash

Notable quotes from "Was Dr Crippen Wrongfully Executed?"

• The cellar of their home. But what if, as modernday science might suggest, that body wasn't his wife at all? Dr. Holy Harvey Krippen was hanged for poisoning and dismembering…

  about Holy Harvey Krippen · at 0:09

• Care of his parents and ran off to New York City to open his own homeopath practice. And it's there that he meets a woman called Kurin Turner, or Kora as she was known. Now…

  about Kurin Turner · at 3:59

• And he did so with Ethel Lenev. Ethel was just 17 years old when she was hired by Krippen. And at some point in the next few years, they began an affair. He would call Ethel wife to her face and.

  about Ethel Lenev · at 9:57

• Kora's friends knew immediately that something was up. And they suspected that her husband had something to do with it, but they couldn't just go to the police and make wild accusations.

  about Kora Krippen · at 11:40

• Genetically prove who the torso belonged to. They had to just rely on the evidence that they did have. The medical examiner later found that the torso had traces of drug called…

  about scopolamine · at 16:15

• Captain, they also probably would have gone unnoticed. But of course, Krippen wasn't about to travel third class. With the pair on board, the SS Montro had no choice but to set…

  about SS Montro · at 18:38

• 1910 than it is nowadays. His trial started just a couple months later on the 18th of October at the Old Bailey.

  about Old Bailey · at 20:13

• This kind of forensic pathology hadn't really been used before. It was the OJ Simpson glove moment of the 1910s.

  about forensic pathology · at 21:30

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Holy Harvey Krippen — Person · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at 0:15
  Central figure in a historical murder case, accused of killing his wife, Kora Krippen.
• Kora Krippen — Person · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at 11:40
  Alleged murder victim in the Krippen case, her disappearance and identity of remains are central to the discussion.
• Ethel Lenev — Person · Core topic · 3 mentions · first at 9:57
  Involved in an affair with Krippen and accused of being an accessory to murder.
• Sir Bernard Spilsbury — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at 21:18
  Renowned pathologist whose testimony was pivotal in the Krippen trial.
  Specific scar? But apparently the pathologist who was renowned Sir Bernard Spilsbury knew this was a scar because of the absence of glands. Scars don't have glands. This seems like a tiny thing, but this was huge at the time.
• Walter Dew — Person · Core topic · 1 mention
  Chief inspector who investigated the Krippen case.
• Kurin Turner — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 4:03
  Real name of Kora Krippen, highlighting her background and identity.
• James Munan — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 7:19
  Krippen's employer in New York, significant in his career path.
  Could charm anyone into anything which was quite handy in his line of work. In New York, Krippen worked for a very prominent homeopath called James Munan.
• Kate Williams — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 12:33
  Friend of Kora who reported her disappearance to the police.
  In Kora's clothes, Kora's friends couldn't hold in their suspicions anymore. A woman called Kate Williams, who was known as Volcano the strong woman in London's entertainment…
• Frank Fro — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 12:59
  Superintendent of Scotland Yard, involved in the Krippen investigation.
  They just happen to be acquaintances of the superintendent of Scotland Yard, Frank Fro. And obviously with his power and his input, the police do decide to go and interview…
• Dr. Stacy Charlotte — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 3:49
  Krippen's first wife, whose death preceded his move to New York.
  Doctor, that is for sure. But he was referred to as a doctor nonetheless. He was Dr. Krippen. Now in his 20ies, he did get married to a woman called Charlotte, but she died…
• John Nash — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 12:50
  Husband of Liil Hawthorne, involved in reporting Kora's disappearance.
  At first, but when two more friends come forward, they do start to listen. And these two friends were actress Liil Hawthorne and her husband John Nash.
• Liil Hawthorne — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 12:50
  Friend of Kora who, along with her husband, reported her disappearance.
  At first, but when two more friends come forward, they do start to listen. And these two friends were actress Liil Hawthorne and her husband John Nash.
• Bruce Miller — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 13:45
  Alleged lover of Kora, mentioned in Krippen's fabricated story.
  Just embarrassed because Kora, his wife, had fled to America with one of her lovers, a fellow musical actor called Bruce Miller. Krippen said he was so mortified by this it was…

Companies & orgs

• Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College — Company · Referenced organization · 1 mention · first at 3:37
  Institution where Krippen was trained in homeopathy.
  That is what Dr. Crippen eventually became fully trained in after going on to attend the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College. He wasn't a traditional doctor, that is for…
• Duet Institute for the Death — Company · Referenced organization · 1 mention · first at 9:50
  Krippen's workplace where he met Ethel.
  Guild. And so this entertainment was always a massive part of her life. In 1900, he got a job at the Duet Institute for the Death, which is where he would find the need to hire himself a typist.
• Free Cash — Company · Advertised product · 4 mentions · first at 1:10
  Mentioned as a sponsor of the episode, offering a platform to earn money through mobile games.
  Myself a bit of pocket money. How is that possible? I played mobile games using free cash. Free cash is an app where users can earn money by playing mobile games, completing…

Products & tech

• SS Montro — Product · Referenced product · 3 mentions · first at 17:33
  Ship on which Krippen and Ethel attempted to escape to Canada.

Concepts & topics

• forensic pathology — Concept · Core topic · 3 mentions · first at 21:30
  Key discipline in the investigation and trial of the Krippen case.
• scopolamine — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at 27:48
  Drug found in the remains, central to the murder accusation against Krippen.
• homeopathy — Concept · Referenced concept · 2 mentions · first at 2:58
  Krippen's field of practice, relevant to his background and character.
  What it actually means. So if anyone else is in the same position I was, homeopathy is basically an alternative medicine style. It claims to stimulate healing responses to…
• Edwardian society — Concept · Referenced concept · 1 mention · first at 23:50
  Cultural backdrop influencing the characters' actions and societal norms.
  Young woman shaped by the social pressures of Eduwardian society? Was she a young woman unable to turn down the advances of her much older boss? Was she someone not in a class…
• Victorian era — Concept · Referenced concept · 1 mention
  Historical context preceding the Edwardian era, influencing societal norms.

Places & events

• London — Place · Core topic · 11 mentions · first at 0:00
  Primary setting of the Krippen murder case and trial.
  On a foggy London morning in 1910, a quiet American doctor became the face of one of Britain's most chilling murder cases after his wife's body was found in the cellar of their home. But what if,.
• Old Bailey — Place · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at 20:18
  Location of Krippen's trial, a significant event in the episode.
• Pentville Prison — Place · Referenced location · 1 mention · first at 24:33
  Location where Krippen was executed.
  Was sentenced to death by hanging. His subsequent appeal was rejected. And so on the 23rd of November 1910, he was hanged at Pentville Prison in London. He was just 46 years old and maintained his innocence until the very end.
• Cold Water, Michigan — Place · Referenced location · 1 mention · first at 2:47
  Birthplace of Holy Harvey Krippen.
  Me how much you've been able to earn. We can compare. So, we'll begin this story with a little bit about Holy Krippen. He was born in Cold Water, Michigan in September 1862.…
• Brussels — Place · Referenced location · 1 mention · first at 17:13
  Transit point for Krippen and Ethel during their escape.
  Krippen and Ethel were nowhere to be found. Something which obviously cast them in suspicion. On the 9th of July, the pair had left London for Brussels.

Media & podcasts

• CEO Times — Media · Referenced media · 1 mention · first at 5:41
  Reported on Kora's character and the case.
  The worst thing you can do is make herself known. Articles from the Times said she was flirtatious, afflu, and even police captain Kendall described her in his memoirs as a flashy, faithless Drew, loudvoiced, vulgar, and.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 On a foggy London morning in 1910, a quiet American doctor became the face of one of Britain's most chilling murder cases after his wife's body was found in the cellar of their home. But what if, as modernday science might suggest, that body wasn't his wife at all? Dr. Holy Harvey Krippen was hanged for poisoning and dismembering his wife, Kora. But the body found in the cellar was found in fragments. Cora identified by scar tissue. there might have turned out not to be scar tissue at all. The prosecution in 1910 leaned heavily on now disputed forensic evidence. So more than a century later, the Krippen story now isn't just about guilt or innocence.

0:42 It's about whether there was a crime at all. There may well have been a body in the basement. But if it wasn't Kora, who was it? Where did Kora go? Did the body predate the crippins moving in? Today, we're going to do a deep dive. But you know what? I deep dived into over the Christmas holidays. Deep dived deep dove into when I wasn't eating or socializing with family. I'd sit back on the sofa and play some mobile games to earn myself a bit of pocket money. How is that possible? I played mobile games using free cash. Free cash is an app where users can earn money by playing mobile games, completing surveys, and more. It is 100% legitimate, I swear to you, with a 4.8 star rating on Trust Pilot. You just get to play games and then be rewarded for your time. It's a bit of passive income for something you were probably doing anyway. After all of the cost of Christmas season, it's not bad to earn an extra 20 or 30 to cover

1:39 those expenses. It's super easy. You just choose a game offer on the app, download it, and start playing. Just make sure you have the app tracking enabled so Free Cash can track your progress on the games because that's how you earn money. Today, I'm going to download Disney Solitaire because I love a good solitaire game. They're generally what I play in my spare time anyway. And as I play and progress through the levels, little bits of cash are dropped into my free cash account. And believe me, it does all add up. Just this week, I've made almost £5 and I'm going to save it all up to take my wife out for dinner in a few weeks because she deserves a little treat. Also, it's super quick to withdraw the money as well. You use PayPal or you can just grab an Amazon gift card. It's so easy to earn whilst just doing everyday things if you have a boring commute or you're just traveling or mindlessly

2:24 watching TV. Why not play some games and see their progress rack up? If you sign up using my link down below or scan the QR code on screen right now, you'll get a $5 bonus when you start your first offer. So, why don't you download free cash and then come back here in a week and tell me how much you've been able to earn. We can compare. So, we'll begin this story with a little bit about Holy Krippen. He was born in Cold Water, Michigan in September 1862. And although we don't know much about his childhood, we know he did go on to be highly educated. He went to the University of Michigan's homeopathy school. And in researching this, I realized I see the word homeopathy all the time, but had no idea what it actually means. So if anyone else is in the same position I was, homeopathy is basically an alternative medicine style. It claims to stimulate healing responses to diseases by administering highly diluted substances

3:17 that mimic the symptoms of those diseases in healthy people. It's basically based on the idea that the body can cure itself and it was developed in the 1790s by a German doctor. I'm not here to tell you whether or not it's real or effective. It's not really that relevant to this story, but that is what Dr. Crippen eventually became fully trained in after going on to attend the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College. He wasn't a traditional doctor, that is for sure. But he was referred to as a doctor nonetheless. He was Dr. Krippen. Now in his 20ies, he did get married to a woman called Charlotte, but she died suddenly from a stroke in 1892. Perhaps wanting to run from his grief, Krippen then left their son, who was also called Holly in the care of his parents and ran off to New York City to open his own homeopath practice. And it's there that he meets a woman called Kurin Turner, or Kora as

4:08 she was known. Now, the situation of their meeting is something I'm sure would send pretty much anyone today into a coma. She grew up in a German community in Williamsburg. She was actually born as Kunagunde Makamatski. She was born into a very poor family and she was forced to do whatever she could to make a living. And the exact situation of hers and Krippen's meeting depends on which source you read, but it went something like this. By the age of 17, Ka was living alone in an apartment fully paid for by a married man who she would have been working for at this time but also sleeping with because at 19 she fell pregnant and had to have an abortion. The doctor's assistant at this abortion was none other than Dr.

4:51 Krippen. And that is how they met. She was 19. He was 33 years old. Now Kora was always said to be an absolutely fascinating character. She had these big dreams of becoming an opera singer, but that never quite worked out. It ended up with her simply becoming a struggling musical singer. That is what most sources will describe her as. I don't know if she lacked the talent or the disposition to become an opera singer or if she was simply trying to make it big in a very oversaturated industry, but she never did make it big. Despite Kora eventually maybe becoming a murder victim, history has never been kind to her. I mean, even at the time of her death/disappearance, journalists described her as a flamboyant, overbearing, and dominant woman. And we all know that historically the worst thing a woman can be is loud.

5:39 The worst thing you can do is make herself known. Articles from the Times said she was flirtatious, afflu, and even police captain Kendall described her in his memoirs as a flashy, faithless Drew, loudvoiced, vulgar, and flor. He said all this he never met her in life. History was just really not kind to Kora. So much of our understanding of who Kora was today comes directly from Holy Krippen, who would have done anything to minimize his crime or alleged crime. Was there even a crime? We'll get to that. On stage, Kora took the name of Belle Elmore, and she was said to love everything about performing, every single aspect of it.

6:20 She thrived on the stage and seems like he treated life as her stage. Now, I can't tell you if she was actually a good person in life. Obviously, I never met her. But I'm very hesitant to take history's word for her nature. She was likely flawed, as we all are, and she had a very turbulent relationship with her husband, Holly Krippen. So, now we know a little bit about Kora's personality. What about Holly? He was said to be the antithesis of his wife. He was meek and quiet. He was sometimes described as affable and gentle, whilst others also said he was a predatory groper. Those two things don't really go hand in hand in my head. Perhaps he was gentle to men, but not very gentle to women. He was said to be very driven in his career, but he was also somewhat of a grifter. He wouldn't be afraid to lie and deceive to get ahead, which went along quite nicely with his charm. He could charm anyone into anything which

7:15 was quite handy in his line of work. In New York, Krippen worked for a very prominent homeopath called James Munan. And when Munion was looking to open up a branch of his practice in London, he sent Krippen along in 1887 to manage it. However, once Krippen and Cora got to London, it was very clear that his USA medical qualifications did not license him to practice as a doctor in England. And I can only imagine this was a bit of a hit to the ego. He did continue working in the field of medicine. He got work as a distributor of patent medicine. So basically non-prescription medicine, sometimes quack remedies.

7:51 Multiple sources at this time described him as a con artist. He wasn't a doctor anymore. He just sold medicine. So now in London with Krippen's career going down the drain, this is where Kora really tried to make it as a singer. She rubbed shoulders with the entertainers of London. She threw her entire self into following this dream, mostly because she was unable to have children. Not because of the abortion she'd had at 19 years old, but because she'd always had horrifically painful periods. And not long after getting with Krippen, he convinced her into having an ovarctomy.

8:26 He convinced her into having her ovaries removed, thereby leaving her sterile. I can only imagine he convinced her into this, being like, "It will cure you. It will make you so much better." Whilst he had a son that he'd left at home with his parents that he never told anyone about, he already had a child he wasn't interested in. He probably didn't want to worry about having anymore. This operation left a scar on Kora's torso, a scar that would later turn out to be very, very important. Krippen never told Kora that he already had a son from his first marriage who he'd abandoned with his parents. And it seems he had no interest in having kids with her either.

9:02 We don't know how Kora felt about all of this. But we do know that she dedicated her life to the stage of the show's world, that loud, vivacious person that she was. She soon had a huge circle of friends within the entertainment industry. She was never short of a social engagement. And sources do differ as just how supportive Krippen was of this. Some say he had no interest in this entertainment world, that he was forever embarrassed by his wife and her ambition. Other sources say that he actually ended up getting fired from his job because he focused so much of his time and attention on his wife's career, a stage dad, except perhaps a stage husband. When Kora's music career eventually failed, she took a job to the treasurer of the music hall ladies guild. And so this entertainment was always a massive part of her life. In 1900, he got a job at the Duet Institute for the Death, which is where he would

9:54 find the need to hire himself a typist. and he did so with Ethel Lenev. Ethel was just 17 years old when she was hired by Krippen. And at some point in the next few years, they began an affair. He would call Ethel wife to her face and made her all sorts of promises that he simply couldn't keep. Coming from a lowerass family, young Ethel coveted Kora's life, their house and clothes and jewelry. And she was said to be the opposite of bold and brash Kora. Ethel was shy and deure. She was much more similar to Krippen in nature. But all of this was okay apparently cuz it seems that Kora was also having affairs. The Krippen's marriage was not a happy one.

10:37 They earned no money. They didn't seem to like each other. Their heads were constantly turned. But this was the early 1900s. Divorce wasn't really an option. I mean, literally was an option, but the judgment, it just wasn't worth it. So they were committed to remaining in this unhappy marriage or at least Kora was and they continued the sherade all the way up until the 31st of January 1910. On that night the couple hosted a dinner party for a couple of friends at their home at 39 Hilldrop Cresant on Camden Road and then Kora was never seen again. Krippen would go around telling everyone that his wife had decided to return back to America, even though she left every single one of her belongings behind and failed to say goodbye to her muchloved friends. Whilst Kora and Holly clearly had a horrible relationship, there was no love there. The love that she had with her friends was very deep.

11:34 They knew there was no way that she would have just up and left without saying goodbye or staying in touch. Kora's friends knew immediately that something was up. And they suspected that her husband had something to do with it, but they couldn't just go to the police and make wild accusations about Krippen killing his wife with zero proof. This was 1910. People went off the grid all the time. There was no mobile phones, no social media to keep in contact with people. But Kora's friends, they knew that something was up. And then Krippen started going around telling people that upon her return to America, Kora had died and she'd been cremated in California, which is about as far from London as the USA could get. So that was very convenient for him. It wasn't long until Ethel moved into the house on Hilldrop present and seemingly took over Kora's life. She was wearing her clothes and her jewelry.

12:25 When Ethel turned up at a gala one day on Krippen's arm, just fully decked out in Kora's clothes, Kora's friends couldn't hold in their suspicions anymore. A woman called Kate Williams, who was known as Volcano the strong woman in London's entertainment scene, goes directly to the police to report Kora's disappearance. Of course, the police don't pay much attention to this at first, but when two more friends come forward, they do start to listen. And these two friends were actress Liil Hawthorne and her husband John Nash.

12:55 They just happen to be acquaintances of the superintendent of Scotland Yard, Frank Fro. And obviously with his power and his input, the police do decide to go and interview Krippen. This was on July the 8th, over 5 months now since Kora's disappearance. The chief inspector, Walter Dw, who had actually been a detective on the Jack the Ripper case, turns up at the Krippen's house to talk to him. But Ethel was the one who answers the door instead, identifying herself as the housekeeper. She lies straight off the bat. She says she's a housekeeper. She tells J that Krippen was at work, so accompanies him to the office where J and Krippen have a short talk in which he does soon admits to fabricating the story about Kora dying in California. Instead, he says he was just embarrassed because Kora, his wife, had fled to America with one of her lovers, a fellow musical actor called Bruce Miller. Krippen said he was so

13:50 mortified by this it was just easier to tell people that she had died so they didn't ask any questions. J then invited Krippen to have lunch with him hoping to try and open him up a bit more but said that he was very polite and very convincing. He wasn't suspicious of him at any point. Krippen admitted that his relationship with Kora had been tumultuous. He also admitted to now living with Ethel. To J. Nothing gave off any huge red flags at this point and J did sympathize with him. He was just a poor man who had been conned by a woman.

14:21 But he still wanted to search Krippen's house just in case. With permission, he looked in every single room, including the coal cellar, which he said was so dark you could barely see your hand in front of your face. And in this search, he found nothing of suspicion. As far as J was concerned, there was nothing going on here. And he was inclined to believe Krippen's story. However, it turns out that whilst J was very unconcerned by this entire interview, it actually shook Crippen and Ethel to their cause. They thought the authorities were on to them.

14:55 And so, they made a very stupid decision. The next day, they disappear. And it's this that set off alarms for the authorities because that's weird. So, with the house now empty, they go back and search again. Over the next few days, they actually searched the house four times in total, and it's not until the fourth search on July 12th that they find something in the coal cellar buried underneath the brick floor. It was a human torso apparently, but it has been described as just this boneless mass of flesh. It was barely even recognizable as human remains. There was no skull or bones, just a melted blob of flesh they were somehow able to extract and get to the coroner's office. Alongside the remains, they also found some other items. Partial women's underwear, a pajama jacket, and some hair colors in which there was some long dark hair tangled up matching Kora's hair color.

15:50 Due later showed the underwear found at the scene to Kora's friends, who were able to identify it as hers. I assume there weren't that many secrets in the music hall, and he also found the matching pajama bottoms to the jacket in the Krippen's bedroom. Now, this was all circumstantial evidence, but it was certainly enough to suggest that the remains were indeed that of Kora. Obviously, with this being 1910, there was no genetic testing, no way to genetically prove who the torso belonged to. They had to just rely on the evidence that they did have. The medical examiner later found that the torso had traces of drug called scopoleamine. Now, scopalolamine is used nowadays to treat motion sickness and just general nausea.

16:31 And it is an incredibly potent drug. For a long time throughout history, it was treated as more of a poison. And this was something that Dr. Krippen often used in his homeopathic medicines. Police soon discovered that Krippen had recently ordered five grains of scopoleamine from a chemist. Things were not looking good for Krippen. It certainly seemed like he had killed his wife and then buried her under the cellar floor. And the rest of her remains have never been found. And nor do we know why the remains were found in the condition that they were. Just a goo of boneless flesh. What happened to them? Whilst all of this is going on, Krippen and Ethel were nowhere to be found. Something which obviously cast them in suspicion. On the 9th of July, the pair had left London for Brussels.

17:17 Turns out Krippen shaved off his mustache and Ethel disguised herself as a boy. They just wanted to get out of the country away from the police before they made a long-term plan. Once in Brussels, they took stock of their situation and ended up buying tickets for a journey to Canada aboard the SS Montro, which was leaving from Anworp. They decided to travel in disguise, pretending to be father and son. Only they were not good at being in disguise. People watched in confusion as they cuddled and held hands and engaged in generally not very father and son behavior. Plus, the boy's clothes didn't seem to fit very well. The whole situation set off alarm bells to the point that the captain of the ship telegraphed a message over to Scotland Yard. He'd heard of the London cellar murderer. I assume Scotland Yard had alerted all ship captains leaving the area that the suspect had gone on the run. and he sent a telegram to Scotland

18:13 Yard reading has strong suspicions that Crippen London seller murderer and accomplice are among saloon passengers. Mustache taken off growing beard accomplice dressed as a boy. Mana and build undoubtedly a girl. Ironically, had the pair just come aboard the boat acting normally and in no disguise at all, they might have been able to go unnoticed. Also, if they traveled third class away from the prying eyes of the captain, they also probably would have gone unnoticed. But of course, Krippen wasn't about to travel third class. With the pair on board, the SS Montro had no choice but to set sail. But Chief Inspector Ju did get the telegram back in London, and he made a plan. He headed up to Liverpool where he boarded a faster ship, White Stars SS Lorentic, and he arrived in Quebec before the Montro. By this point, it was the end of July. Travel by sea is a very slow process and the Montro finally entered

19:08 the St. Lawrence River towards Quebec on the 31st of July. Jub boarded the boat disguised as a pilot and the captain of the ship asked Krippen if he'd like to meet a pilot. I'm not sure why this was so contrived. It really does feel like the plot of an Agatha Christie book. But upon meeting D then removed his pilot's cap and asked, "Good morning, Dr. Krippen. Do you know me?" and Krippen reportedly replied, "Thank God it's over. The suspense has been too great. I couldn't stand it any longer." A Canadian officer then arrested him and then Ethel not long after. It turns out that traveling to Canada was a big flaw in his plan. Had Krippen waited for a ship that was sailing to the US instead as a US citizen, there would have been a whole lengthy extradition process to get him back to the UK for trial. It might have been so long and complicated that it probably wouldn't have been worth anyone's time to do it. But seeing as at

20:03 this time Canada was still a part of the British Empire. Sorry, Kanda. It was very easy to get him back to London to bring him to justice. And the justice system, it seems, was a lot quicker in 1910 than it is nowadays. His trial started just a couple months later on the 18th of October at the Old Bailey. And this seemed to be a pretty openandsh case. It only lasted for 4 days. The prosecution had all of the evidence I've already covered in this episode. The piece of fabric found with the remains that matched some of Cora's pajamas, the drug which Krippen was known to have purchased, the fact that him and Ethel ran away and he kind of as good as confessed to the crime upon arrest. But the biggest piece of evidence, or at least the thing the prosecution really seemed to hammer home, was a scar on Kora's torso. One of the few remaining bits of flesh found was a piece of torso skin complete with what the pathologist

20:55 said was a scar. A scar that was said to be consistent with Kora's known medical history. Remember, she had had the ovarctomy years beforehand, leaving a pretty decent size scar. Now, the defense argued that this scar could simply be folded skin and the skin was really degraded. It wasn't in good condition. So, how did they know for sure that this was a scar, but also that specific scar? But apparently the pathologist who was renowned Sir Bernard Spilsbury knew this was a scar because of the absence of glands. Scars don't have glands. This seems like a tiny thing, but this was huge at the time.

21:30 This kind of forensic pathology hadn't really been used before. It was the OJ Simpson glove moment of the 1910s. The fact that this tiny piece of torso skin was proven to be kora threw a scar that was incredible. It hit all the headlines. Now, the defense's biggest argument that there was no evidence that the body was Cororus, and the prosecution said that the scar was Kora. So, a lot of the time in court was spent just focused on this scar back and forth, back and forth. But in the end, all of the prosecution's evidence was enough for the jury to come to a guilty verdict within just 30 minutes. He was guilty of the murder of his wife, Kora Krippen. And then shortly after this, Ethel was also tried as an accessory to murder. The pair were deliberately tried separately because the authorities wanted Krippen's case to be heard first.

22:20 Her trial began on the 26th of October also at the Old Bailey with the prosecution alleging that she had provided comfort and assistance to Krippen knowing that he had committed murder. She also aided in his escape. However, her defense portrayed her as a naive young woman under the influence of her older employer who had no real knowledge of the murder. Her barrista didn't call her or any other witnesses to the stand, hoping instead just to rely on this argument to establish reasonable doubt. The general attitude to women in this time likely also helped Ethel. Women were just naive creatures incapable of real independent thought.

23:00 They just did whatever men asked of them. And for this reason, we still don't know the truth of what Ethel actually knew, how involved she really was. But we do know that her trial only lasted one day and the jury deliberated for just 12 minutes. She was found not guilty. After this point, Ethel disappeared from public view. Rumor has it that she traveled to Toronto where she worked as a typist for a while before eventually returning to London where she changed her name to Ethel Harvey, perhaps as a tribute to Holly Harvey Krippen. In January 1915, she married a man called Stanley Smith. They went on to have children and she lived a quiet life. She never got in trouble again. She never talked about her past.

23:39 She died in 1967, aged 84. So, was she an accompliceed murder? Was she just a young woman shaped by the social pressures of Eduwardian society? Was she a young woman unable to turn down the advances of her much older boss? Was she someone not in a class to be able to turn down the chance of a richer life as promised to her by Crippin? We don't know. I always say on this channel not to judge history by modernday standards. And maybe this is a prime example of it. Ethel made some very bad choices, but she also grew up in a very different society than what we have today. There were lots of different pressures, lots of different expectations that we perhaps wouldn't be able to relate to or maybe she was just involved in murder.

24:24 Now, Holly Krippen's end wasn't quite as uneventful. After his guilty verdict, he was sentenced to death by hanging. His subsequent appeal was rejected. And so on the 23rd of November 1910, he was hanged at Pentville Prison in London. He was just 46 years old and maintained his innocence until the very end. Contemporary reports describe him as calm and composed right until his death. This was a huge case, a huge story at the time in 1910, and people across the country celebrated when Krippen met his death. It was also a landmark case. The use of forensic pathology here had never been seen before. before it hit a lot of headlines. And from everything I've told you, this seems like a pretty open-end shut case, right? I mean, Krippen and Ethel literally fled the country when they thought the police were closing in on them. That should tell you everything you need to know. Well, in the past

25:16 couple of decades, doubt has been cast on this case with modern DNA testing, suggesting that the torso in the cellar might not have belonged to Corora Krippen at all. It might have actually been that of a man. So, was Dr. Krippen innocent all along? And if so, what happened to Kora? Who was the body in the cellar? As we know, at trial, the scar was presented as foolproof evidence. The body was that of Cororus with no head, limbs, skeleton, or teeth. There was no objective identification to be had. The defense argued at the trial that the scar could simply have been a bit of folded skin, and that it also contained hair follicles, which is something scar tissue does not. And modern hisystological analysis does support this. Experts nowadays say that the tissue does not display classic scar characteristics and that the skin might have come from a different part of the body entirely. If this scar was

26:11 misidentified, then there was never any evidence whatsoever to say that the body was that of Kora. In the early 2000s, forensic testing was done when DNA was extracted from the preserved microscope slides used at the original trial almost 100 years earlier now, and the information that came out of this was damning. The DNA they extracted was male and it did not match mitochondrial DNA from Kora's maternal relatives. Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to child and whilst both daughters and sons inherit this DNA, only daughters able to pass on to the next generation.

26:48 So, living relatives on Kora's mother's side will have the same mitochondrial DNA as Kora did a century ago. Except they didn't. It wasn't a match. If this is correct, this would mean the torso was not Kora. And Krippen may have been convicted of murdering someone whose body was never found. Of course, he may have still murdered her and hidden the body elsewhere. There's not been any sign of her since January 1910. But without a body, without any evidence, should he have been convicted? This all does sound quite damning, but we are relying on century old evidence here.

27:21 There are plenty of people who do argue that the original microscope slides might have been contaminated in the last century. But these findings, regardless, are deeply damaging to the prosecution's theory. It just cast doubt over everything. And there's also the fact that the body's cause of death was never proven. Scapolamine was detected in the tissue, but no lethal dose could be established and no evidence showed that this drug was administered to kill rather than for a legitimate medical reason. Yes, Krippen was found to have ordered the drug before Kora's death, but he did also legitimately use this in his medical practice and it was sold widely at the time. A lot of people would have been able to get their hands on scopoleamine. Legally, murder requires proof of unlawful killing, not merely the presence of a drug. So, was there proof here? There's also the fact that at trial, at literally any trial,

28:13 Sir Bernard Spils's testimony was treated as virtually unchallengeable. This was a time in which forensic pathology was in its very early stages. Not many people understood it, and Spillsbury was one of the very few experts in this field. He was considered to be somewhat of a smoking gun at every single trial he testified at. Judges and juries of the era often deferred to him absolutely. But by modern legal standards, this would not stand. There was no peer review, no independent forensic corberation, and the defense experts were effectively overshadowed just by Spielsbury's name. The defense experts could have been absolutely correct, but Spills name held so much weight. Add the appearance of this untouchable expert to the fact that Krippen's general behavior, the lying about Kora's whereabouts, the affair, the fleeing the country, and you have a jury who has no choice but to be suspicious, especially considering the

29:08 morals of this time. All of the evidence presented to them was circumstantial, but it was enough to cast serious doubt. However, suspicious behavior does not equal a murder. None of the evidence proved that this body belonged to Kora, that Krippen killed her, or a murder even occurred at all. So now, 116 years later, it's up to you to make up your own mind as to what happened here. Everyone involved is long dead, and there's no consensus that Krippen was innocent. But there is strong agreement within the relevant communities that the identification of this body was dodgy to say the least. That the forensic evidence was overstated and that the legal threshold for murder at this time may not have been met. Many modern experts suggest that this conviction simply could not stand today, at least not with the evidence they had at this time. If this exact same murder happened today, forensic science would probably

30:03 mean they would pretty quickly be able to identify the body as Kora or not Kora and likely be able to tell us more about the death. But that's kind of irrelevant. All of this begs the question, if the body in the cellar was indeed male, who was it? And if it wasn't Kora, what happened to her? Did she indeed escape back to America as Krippen said all along? Did she live the rest of her life in quiet peace? Did she ever find out what came for her husband? Or was it her in the cellar? Was the DNA testing just incorrect? Was Holy Crippen unjustly killed? Thank you so much for tuning in today. And once again, a huge thank you to Free Cash for partnering with me on this video. You can sign up using my link or QR code right now and start earning money. It's so easy to do just for an hour or so in the evening whilst you watch TV and you watch the money stack up. And don't miss out on the $5 signup bonus if you do it right

30:55 now. Why not? If you've made it to this point in the video, then please make sure you leave a comment down below. Comments are great for the algorithm. It basically tells YouTube that people are interacting with my videos. They like my videos. They should show them to more people. Also, make sure you subscribe so you can be notified next time I upload. And I will see you then. Bye, guys.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Was Dr Crippen Wrongfully Executed?"?

In order: 0:00 Free Cash, homeopathy, Holy Harvey Krippen, London; 5:00 London, Ethel Lenev, Duet Institute for the Death, James Munan; 10:00 London, Kora Krippen, Ethel Lenev, Frank Fro; 15:00 London, SS Montro, Holy Harvey Krippen, Brussels; 20:00 London, forensic pathology, Old Bailey, Kora Krippen; 25:00 forensic pathology, scopolamine; 30:00 Free Cash.

What is mentioned in this Georgia Marie episode?

28 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Holy Harvey Krippen, forensic pathology, Kora Krippen, London, Ethel Lenev, Old Bailey. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Was Dr Crippen Wrongfully Executed?"?

The episode runs 32 min; the transcript is about 5,831 words in 41 timestamped sections.

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