A SEARCH has been launched to find the families of two women whose bodies were dumped near Moffat 90 years ago — after their skulls were rediscovered in a university storeroom.
The bodies of Isabella Ruxton and Mary Rogerson were found in a ravine outside the town after being killed in Lancaster in 1935.
The case broke new ground in forensic science when Edinburgh University helped build evidence against Dr Buck Ruxton, who was later hanged for both murders.
Edinburgh University has now discovered that the skulls and other bones are still in its archive and academics are trying to trace the women’s relatives to
ask if they wish the remains to be returned.
A spokesperson for the University of Edinburgh said: “Upon learning that the women’s remains were still being held within its Sydney Smith Collection, the University carefully considered the most moral and ethical course of action, engaging with ethics experts and the Scottish Government.
“While the circumstances under which the women’s remains came into the possession of Professor Sydney Smith are not known, it is clear that there have been huge changes in medical ethics since then, and we want to do what is morally right for the women and their family members.”
In the decades that followed the Ruxton case, Isabella and Buck Ruxton’s three young children were fostered and it is not known if they were ever told how their parents died.
Mary Rogerson is known to have relatives in the Morecambe area, while Isabella’s sister Jeannie Nelson was living in Edinburgh at the time of the murder.
The women’s bones were held in the university’s anatomical collection, stored in boxes in a vault alongside evidence from the case. The assumption is that they were retained for further medical research.
For more information about the search visit: www.ed.ac.uk/c/isabella-ruxton-and-mary-jane-rogerson.
