Holmes can add to the field of forensic science. Rarer still is the opportunity to examine physical remains of a 19th century person who was so well documented by police, courts, and the press. Holmes investigation aired on Tuesday evening. Holmes at a public event at the museum. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the smooth, carved limestone toilet was found in a rectangular cabin that was part of a sprawling mansion.
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Skip to content Science Explainers History. Share this Facebook Twitter Email. You may also like. Full disclosure: This reporter also appeared in an episode of the show. Can you walk me through how the show runners approached you about participating in the series, and what you initially thought of their endeavor? We were actually originally approached by Jeff Mudgett. He wanted to know about the exhumation process and what was involved. That was more than a year ago.
Then a few months later, last August, the production company contacted us that they wanted to film the exhumation and it all went from there. Our reasoning was basically that we wanted to do this for the family and we wanted it to be done right, so we took it on.
Can you explain your testing process. And did the remains make for easy DNA extraction? Ancient DNA [more than 10 years old] is a very specific method and only a few labs [in the world] will do it. The grave was full of water and the remains were only part-decomposed. We had known that was a possibility but we were hoping for just a skeleton or maybe a mummy.
The remains were in good shape but it was very wet and smelly, so not ideal conditions to work under. We were most surprised when we dug out an empty box. We knew he had to be there. After the fair closed in October , Holmes fled Chicago creditors and a fire insurance company for a cross-country scamming trip.
He was finally caught, charged and convicted two years later of the murder of his right-hand-man, Benjamin Pitezel. He was arrested in Boston and hanged for his crime in Philadelphia.
It has been suggested that Holmes had over victims, though he confessed to 27 and modern experts believe that figure to be closer to nine. Given his history as a skilled con-man, rumors emerged soon after his death that Holmes managed to trick his way out of his own hanging, and escape to South America.
Why is he being exhumed? Such conspiracy theories involved Holmes bribing officials at the former Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia to substitute a cadaver for his own corpse, so he could escape death and flee to South America. Instead, it contained Holmes living. Robert Lattimer, once a janitor at the Murder Castle, claimed in he had seen letters proving that Holmes conned his lawyer, priest and jail officials into burying a dead man in his place, according to Adam Selzer , an author and historian in Chicago.
He did, however, insist that his former boss escaped to a New York hotel, before moving onto a coffee farm in San Parinarimbo, Paraguay. For example, the South American town never existed. Who asked for the exhumation? The query came from his own family.
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