1940's murders

[sdreid]

If I recall, they were not able to determine Somerton's cause of death so they put it down to some unknown poison. There is recently a pretty good id. on the victim except the candidate has a cleft in his chin while the victim does not.

There are also murderers who escaped justice like Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner. If still alive, he would be 101 but I think INTERPOL still has him on their wanted list.

[harry]

I have posted before on the Somerton man.I am of the opinion that no crime was commited.There are still attempts being made here in South Australia,to have DNA taken from his remains.I believe there is a more sensible way to discover his identity.

[sdreid]

Yes, Somerton Man is a "good" one.

[RivkahChaya]

There's an odd case from Australia in 1948 referred to as "Taman Shud." Wikipedia link provided. Entry is heavily linked and noted, and can get you to original sources. "Taman Shud" is not the victim's name, as he was never identified; "taman [it actually should be tamam] shud" is the last line of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It refers to a torn page from a copy, which the man had on him.

[Mayerling]

Hi all,

Wayne Lornegan Case in New York (1946) - murder of Canadian airman's wife who was a wealthy socialite. Lornegan was suspected, arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, but doubts about some of the evidence led to his getting life imprisonment. Subsequently he was released after many years. He died in the 1980s.

World War II related:

Assassination of Admiral Darlan (1942): Vichy Admiral was thorn in side of Nazi/Vichy and Allies. Finally threw in with Allies, but was killed in an assassination by a naval officer. The officer was executed, but who actually was behind the assassination remains unknown.

Leslie Howard (1943): The famous actor's plane from Lisbon was shot down by a Nazi plane sent to intercept it. Churchill wrote that one of the passengers looked like himself, and Nazi agents passed on the mistaken information that the P.M. was on the plane too. Hence it being shot down. But Leslie's son Ronald Howard would write in his biography of his father that Leslie was collecting information against the Nazi leadership regarding the "Final Solution" now underway, for publication. So he may have been the actual target. We will never know.

General Sikorski of the Polish Army (1943): Plane crashed at Gibraltar under murky circumstances (all killed but the British military pilot!), and Nazis suggested that Sikorsky was killed on orders of Churchill as a sop for Stalin about his control over Poland (post war). Agains we don't know. A play by Rolf Hochsuth, "Soldiers" is based on the Nazi suggested premise.

Jeff

[kidtwist]

The account I have says that the crimes were brought up after the Short murder.

Yes, supposedly a girl named Louise Teuber was found hanging in a tree.

In the book Death Scenes by Sean Tejaratchi there's a photo of Teuber hanging from the tree. The case (Teuber and the others) is also covered slightly in the book Murder and Mayhem by Michael Thomas Barry.

[Chris]

The shooting of two employees at the Cameo Cinema, Liverpool in 1949. George Kelly was convicted of murder and hanged the following year, but his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal 53 years later:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameo_Murder

[Cogidubnus]

A Murder in Brighton

Does anyone know if the, (relatively short), Adrian Buckley book is worth buying?

All the best

Dave

[sdreid]

Another 1940s murder that has intrigued me of late is the slaying of Daisy (aka Dorothy) Wallis in her London office outside of business hours. She was a 36-year-old spinster who, according to her diaries and contrary to her image, led a prolific sex life. A young man "of Italian appearance" man was seen fleeing the premises after screams were heard emanating from her office on a Sunday evening in 1949. Daisy was found the following morning by a business assistant. She had been repeatedly stabbed with a stiletto type weapon.

[Hatchett]

I think the Lord Errol case is a classic.Pretty much like a high society film. It would be great for a a group discussion.

[Graham]

What about Dr John Bodkin-Adams in Eastbourne? A number of his wealthy female patients met their Maker while he was attending them, but he was acquitted at his trial, so the murders are technically still unsolved.

Graham

[Cogidubnus]

Something new every day

Good heavens

I've just come across this thread...when I first left school my very first job was at Mitre House, Brighton...

And I knew nothing of the Buckley case until now. I suppose I'd better gen up on it!

All the best

Dave

[Veronica76]

Hi Stewart

Sounds strange, so did she actally have a definate cause of death ? and was she possibly involved in things she shouldn't have been ?...........

[Stewart P Evans]

Odd

Hi Stewart
Tyou so much for this never heard of this one and im always on the lookout for new ones, what was the cuase of death ?
I did have a book on Brighton murders but it didnt have this one

It was an odd case, she used the studio as a club. There had been several people in the room that night and a witness, Mrs. Buckley, left at 10.00 pm. Some of the injuries could have been caused by the fall from the window opening onto the roof, but not all of them. Some might even have been caused by the wheel of a vehicle. It was thought that she was carried to the window by more than one person. The verdict of 'murder by persons unknown' was returned by the jury.

[sdreid]

Wasn't there something about a girl hung from a tree in the San Diego one ?? they all sounded quite gory but i cant find anything on them, did find some old newspaper stuff which seems to authenticate them but very confusing ...

The account I have says that the crimes were brought up after the Short murder.

Yes, supposedly a girl named Louise Teuber was found hanging in a tree. Some were said to be tortured, some raped - some were said to be killed by strangulation, some by stabbing and some by beating. I don't really see a pattern except that all the victims were female, even then, there were likely men beaten and stabbed to death there too in that time period.