The Hawley Crippen Ocean Murder Chase

Following a man across the Atlantic to arrest him in Canada for his wife's murder

Hawley Crippen was a respected homeopath when he married his second wife Corrine Turner in New York City in 1894. She was a music hall performer who used the stage name of Belle Elmore. Crippen’s first wife, Charlotte, had died two years earlier of a stroke.

The same year he married Corrine, Crippen started to work for prominent homeopath James Munyon. This necessitated a move to London, England where Munyon operated a branch office.

Unfortunately for Crippen, he found out when he arrived, his qualifications in the United States meant nothing in the United Kingdom. He worked distributing patent medicines, while Corrine attempted to start a stage career in England. Neither had much success.

Harvey Crippen

After he was fired by Munyon in 1899, Crippen worked for various companies before he took a job as the manager of the Drouet Institute for the Deaf. In 1900, he hired a typist named Ethel Le Neve.

With finances causing issues in his marriage, Crippen started an affair with Ethel in 1905, while Corrine had an affair with one of the lodgers who stayed in the Crippen home.

Corrine Turner

On Jan. 31, 1910, the Crippins were throwing a party at their home at Hilltop Crescent in London. After the party, Corrine disappeared without a trace. Crippen told people she had moved to the United States and then that she had died and been cremated there.

Ethel moved into Crippin’s home and started to wear Corrine’s clothing.