UK Coroner Closes Case On 130-year-old Murder Case

LONDON — A skull dug up in a back garden has solved a 130-year-old mystery surrounding the murder of a wealthy London widow.

Julia Thomas was murdered by her housekeeper in 1879, but her head was never found, and the case was dubbed the "Barnes mystery" by the Victorians for the area of London where the woman was killed.

In October – more than a century after the murder – excavators discovered a skull in nature documentary maker David Attenborough's back garden. He lives near where Thomas was slain.

Reviewing records of the murder and census records, and using radiocarbon testing, detectives connected the skull with the murder case. West London Coroner Alison Thompson ruled Tuesday that the skull belonged to Thomas.

She said that Thomas was unlawfully killed and that the cause of death was asphyxiation and head injury.

"This is a fascinating case and a good example of how good old-fashioned detective work, historical records and technological advances came together to solve the 'Barnes mystery,'" said Chief Superintendent Clive Chalk.

Comments

[Peter Charette]

11:32 AM on 07/07/2011

Now the kids in that neighborhood can share ghost stories about a woman who found her lost head!

[Johnny Fruckles]

07:58 AM on 07/07/2011

i see. we can solve a 130-year-old murder, but no one can tell us how casey anthony died. got it.

[sly10]

11:25 AM on 07/09/2011

I don't see why EVERYTHING has to revolve around ONE murder of ONE little girl. Yes, it's a terrible thing but there are sooo many other people, young or not, murdered every day. Even much older cases deserved to be brought to a close, not just the ones that are popular in the news today.

[bjwtaylor]

12:44 AM on 07/07/2011

It takes a lot more than carbon dating and census records to determine that the skull is that of the missing widow.

Even so, there's no crime solving here. No new information. No brilliant detecting. Nothing to be writing about. Waste of space.

[joeyfoto]

05:00 PM on 07/06/2011

Nancy Grace rails against the long delay in returning this woman's head to her corpse.

"An autopsy delayed is a prosecution denied."

News at 11:00

[Snippert]

12:40 AM on 07/07/2011

Spot on, spot on.

[hector74elp]

04:00 PM on 07/06/2011

uhm.... Col. Mustard in the library with a lead pipe?

[Snippert]

12:41 AM on 07/07/2011

Hey, hey. This is a family website.

[anitaj]

02:43 PM on 07/06/2011

A six-month-old story about evidence that confirms the facts of the case already known.

Not really a front page worthy item.

[Mupaaat]

02:30 PM on 07/06/2011

The coroner announced that Thompson was "unlawfully" killed. Well, that clears up that murder.

[Scrnwrtr82]

02:21 PM on 07/06/2011

Who's the guilty party? Regis Philbin? Larry King? Ernest Borgnine?

[rpeterson2205]

12:54 PM on 07/06/2011

Seriously who on the Huffington Post is the Fortean Times fan? They've re-posted like 20 articles from the Fortean Times' Late Breaking News in the past month.

[admrob]

12:32 PM on 07/06/2011

If they knew who killed her, how was it a "cold case" ?

[Mupaaat]

02:31 PM on 07/06/2011

They have a head fetish.

[AbeMartin]

11:46 AM on 07/06/2011

This "story" was first reported nearly a year ago:  (Skull found in Sir David Attenborough's garden that solves 1879 Barnes murder mystery, Daily Mail, 25 October, 2010).  So, why is this being featured as news today?

[chrisfromky]

05:23 PM on 07/06/2011

Huffpo just heard about it so it's news to them. lol

[AmigaMan]

05:52 PM on 07/06/2011

ROTFLMAO AOL/HP is fast becoming a joke IMO.

[LeftofTerry]

11:28 AM on 07/06/2011

justice for julia!

i hope nancy grace devotes the next 4 months trashing the murderer as a monster.

[AuGlove5]

10:51 AM on 07/06/2011

I thought I'd be clever and make a Casey Anthony reference... But I guess I wouldn't be the first.

[PeterVanKan]

10:46 AM on 07/06/2011

A few fact for the haters here:
1 Casey was an adoable toddler just a few years ago.
2 She didn't harm you personally
3 She was tried according to the law that we together decided to make and uphold.
4 Hate and frustration are unhealthy emotions
5 It's not my fauls that these facts are facts.
Have a nice day.

[vippy]

12:17 PM on 07/06/2011

Fact is, the mother had a toddler. The toddler disappeared and the mother kept lying about it. Then the toddler was found and then we had to listen to creative lawyers who muddied the waters and in the end the jury lost track of the big picture.

[Mupaaat]

03:03 PM on 07/06/2011

Well put, vippy. To think that life or death decisions depend upon whom lawyers select from bunches of casual folks, any of whom can be excluded on whim. And so an engineer, for instance, is usually in the dismissed group of jury undesirables. Utilizing those left is how the defense can easily use "if the gloves don't fit, you must acquit" line to influence hapless jurors. So in a nutshell, this is how we find justice!

[chrisfromky]

05:27 PM on 07/06/2011

Come now I think the woman is as guilty as they come, but all of their evidence was circumstantial, they had not one solid fact in their entire case that could say definitely she was the one who committed the act. And for all you know she wasn't the one who did it, maybe it was her dad, her mom, a friend. You have no idea, but yet that doesn't stop you from pointing the finger. I'm sure the jury had the big picture a lot better than you do, no hard evidence and you go free that is how our system works.

[abudotcom]

10:40 AM on 07/06/2011

What the H..ll - 130 years and they were able to figure out this: was unlawfully killed and that the cause of death was asphyxiation and head injury. ? And in 2011 they can figure out how Caylee die ?

[Gregor53]

11:59 AM on 07/06/2011

Look it up on Google. Full details there. Basically, they found the body and the killer who confessed. Simple...