The Crimes of Dr. Buck Ruxton: A Mini-Essay

     As forensic anthropologist Roxana Ferllini highlights, criminals will often go to great lengths to prevent identification of a homicide victim. For example, intentional arson aims to eradicate the body’s identity and any evidence associated with the crime and is often staged as an accident to redirect investigations.[1] Likewise, extreme mutilation to the corpse’s features – sometimes a product of rage during the murder and other times the ritualistic act of a serial killer – can also serve as a means to make identification of the victim difficult or impossible.[2] A prime example of the latter, in turn, involves the 1935 case of Dr. Buck Ruxton. Originally from India, Bukhtyar Rustomji Ratanji Hakim, who preferred to be called Buck Ruxton, moved to Lancaster, England, with Isabella Van Ess and their three children to establish himself as a physician.[3] Although the two were not legally married, Isabella insisted on being called Mrs. Ruxton, an act that only exacerbated the couple’s strained relationship which often erupted in fights and Buck’s violent accusations of Isabella’s infidelity.[4] In September of 1935, another heated altercation occurred upon Isabella’s return from a visit to Blackpool, where Buck again accused her of unfaithfulness, and, following this, Isabella and the family maid, Mary Rogerson, disappeared.[5] Claiming the two had left on another trip, Buck hired a series of housekeepers to clean the home, all of whom complained of foul smells and peculiar stains filling the house.[6] As Buck cycled through a string of maids, a mangled arm was discovered along the River Annon in Scotland by Mary Johnson.[7] During a search of the area, over seventy body parts rendered nearly unidentifiable and wrapped in either torn clothing or pages from the Sunday Graphic were found scattered along a ninety-mile span between Carlisle and Edinburgh.[8] As the investigation progressed, fingerprints and a lateral deviation on one of the recovered toes positively identified Mary and superimposition of the skull with a photograph of Isabella proved enough of a match to warrant identification.[9] With confirmation of the two women’s identities and evidence that the Sunday Graphic edition many of the remains were wrapped in was only sold in the Lancaster area, Buck was tried for murder and sentenced to death in the spring of 1936.[10]

Works Referenced

Ferllini, Roxana. Silent Witness: How Forensic Anthropology is Used to Solve the World’s Toughest Crimes. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 2002.

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[1] Ferllini, 138-139.

[2] Ferllini, 94-98.

[3] Ferllini, 116.

[4] Ferllini, 116.

[5] Ferllini, 116.

[6] Ferllini, 116.

[7] Ferllini, 117.

[8] Ferllini, 117.

[9] Ferllini, 117.

[10] Ferllini, 117.