Battersea Mystery
The Battersea Mystery was two unsolved murders that took place in London in 1873-74.
On September 5, 1873, the left quarter of a women's trunk was discovered by Thames Police patrol near Battersea. Subsequently, a right breast was found at Nine Elms, a head at Limehouse, the left forearm at Battersea, the pelvis at Woolwich, until an almost complete body of a dismembered woman had been found. The nose and the chin had been cut of from the face, and the head had been scalped.
Under the leadership of the Acting Chief Surgeon, Metropolitan Police, Thomas Bond (British physician), the corpse was reconstructed. The attempts to identify the remains were disturbed by the curiosity of the public, and the police first showed a photograph to any potential witness.
The Lancet reported: "Contrary to the popular opinion, the body had not been hacked, but dexterously cut up; the joints have been opened, and the bones neatly disarticulated, even the complicated joints at the ankle and the elbow, and it is only at the articulations of the hip-joint and shoulder that the bones have been sawn through."
The jury past a verdict of "Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown". The case remained unsolved, in spite of a £200 reward being offered for information.
In June, of 1874, the dismembered body of a female was discovered in Thames at Putney. The corpse lacked head, both arms and one leg, and had been treated with lime before being thrown in the river. The jury returned an open verdict. The case remained unsolved.
References
- R Michael Gordon: The Thames Torso Murders of Victorian London, 2002