Briefing · Case 001For your eyes only
What we know so far
In early 1910, Cora Crippen — known on stage as Belle Elmore — stopped turning up among her friends in London's music-hall world. Her husband, Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen, an American who sold patent medicines, said she had rushed to America to look after a sick relative.
A few weeks later he told everyone she had died there, in California. Her friends found the story strange. She had left without saying goodbye, and his young typist had started appearing in public wearing Cora's jewellery.
On 30 June 1910, two of her friends took their doubts to Scotland Yard. Chief Inspector Walter Dew was asked to look into it.
Your job
What happened to Cora — and who was responsible?
On the caseChief Inspector Walter Dew, Scotland Yard