DETROIT, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- An American doctor hanged in England in 1910 for killing his wife was innocent, a DNA scientist says.
Dr. Hawley Crippen, a Michigan native, was convicted of poisoning Cora Turner, dismembering the body and hiding her torso underneath their house. He was trying to escape to America with his young girlfriend when he was caught in Canada.
David Foran, a forensic scientist at Michigan State University, tells The Detroit News he has proven Crippen's innocence by comparing a DNA analysis of Turner's grand-nieces with 100-year-old evidence. His peer-reviewed work was published this month in the Journal of Forensic Science.
James Crippen, a cousin from Dayton, Ohio, is asking Britain for a posthumous pardon and the return of the remains for burial in the family plot in Coldwater, Mich.
When Turner, who performed in music halls as Belle Elmore, disappeared, her husband said she had ran off with another man. A search of their cellar found a torso that was later identified as Turner's from an old scar.
Foran analyzed a tissue sample of the torso from the Royal London Hospital Archives and Museum. No match was found with Turner's living relatives, and another test showed the torso was male.
