Murder at the Priory: Who Killed Charles Bravo?

In Brant County, 1896, Lillie Carpenter died in her home despite the efforts of her neighbour, Margaret Gillies, and her husband, Robert Carpenter, to revive her. Dr. Peter Jones and Dr. Robert McDonald examined the body and found bruises on Lillie's arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen and head. Dr. Jones then concluded that death occured as a result of bodily trauma and Robert Carpenter was convicted of manslaughter. The evidence most strongly presented was that of his suspicious behaviour of locking his wife in thier home and telling two different accounts as to her condition the day she died. Though this dual account of Lillie's conidiotn is rather questionable, in consideration that the locked door was mentioned numerous times in the trial it suggests that these instances are more attunted to a character analysis of Carpenter and not a determining factor is he beat his wife. During the trial abuse allegations, supposrted using witness testimony,however, were used as evidence to support Robert was a violent man. These allegations,however, do not cocnlusively demonstarte Crapenter's guilt as the witnesses do not have a clear line of visions to determine if Carpenter had beat his wife. While Lillie sustained brusing on her upper body and her skull, causing congestion in the brain, her syptoms leading up to her death suggest that she could have dided of water poisoning.

Edgar Allan Poe’s death was caused by the infamous act of cooping. He was found outside of a bar during voting time; delirious and dressed in second hand-clothes, he was later sent to Washington College Hospital to be taken care of. This theory is the most plausible because it explains why he was drugged, how they found him in other people’s clothes, and the reason why he was a victim of cooping.

"The toxicology studies on blood reveal the presence alprazolam, and amphetamine at levels likely consistent with the therapeutic range, a metabolite of buproprion and a high level of fentanyl. Phenylpropranolamine and amphetamine are present in the urine. When fentanyl and alprazolam are taken together there may be a synergistic central nervous system depressive effect. Based on the history and circumstances, s currently known, the manner of death is accident."

In chapter 1 titled “Chloroform (CHCI3 )” of The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum, the most interesting story developed within the chapter was the unsolved mystery of eight deaths in a refuge called Odd Fellows Home. Frederic Mors, who claimed to be responsible for all these eight murders, confessed his own guilt in front of the district attorneys. As it was said, “To prove that these elderly residents had been poisoned, they needed solid evidence. [Rumors, suspicions, and anecdotes, a confession by a suspect who might just be crazy, weren’t enough to charge a man with murder.]” (Blum 13).

The British doctor, Dr. Harold “Dr. Death” Shipman was a silent killer. The law enforcement and attorneys must have evidence to convict any person in a court of law. Some of the key factors in this case appear to be circumstantial evidence and there was no forensic evidence presented. The first factor is that Harold Shipman was admitted for psychiatric treatment and a drug conviction in 1976 and the General Medical Council was aware of this serious issue. Yet, they allowed him to continue to practice without any documentation being filed, so they say, and no monitoring was implemented for Harold. Dr. Shipman established a pattern in which all of the victims were injected with morphine/heroin as a result of the coroner’s reporting.

Once Jane was arrested it took a year for her to confess to the murders. Jane even reportedly tried poisoning herself for sympathy. When it came time for trial, the jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity. In one news report they quote Jane saying “ she never would have killed all these people if she had been married and had a happy family.” Jane was then sentenced for life at Taunton Insane Hospital, with multiple suicide attempts, till her early 80’s and died in the year 1938. What lead Jane to kill is still unknown, but researchers would say it was her childhood trauma and father’s neglect and abuse that truly created this famous American serial killer (Allen, Averill, Cook, 2005).

1). Poe went so far that he got into a point that he drank absinthe and brandy which is a really dangerous mixture (Poe, Drugs and Alcohol 27). Between the many possible causes of Edgar Allan Poe’s death, his problem with alcohol is really considerable as one important reason of his early death (Scharf, Douglas 1).

One evening, Queenie Volupides had a quarrel with her husband Arthur and went off to the local country club where a party was ongoing. She departed the club just before one o’clock in the morning with a few friends to have another drink at her place. Queenie however, arrived ten minutes earlier and when her friends arrived, she stated that “Something terrible happened. Arthur slipped and fell on the stairs. He was coming down for another drink - he still had the glass in his hand --- and I think he’s dead. Oh, my God --- what shall I do?” The autopsy conducted later concluded that Arthur died from a wound on the head and confirmed that he’d been drunk.

The news of Marilyn Monroe’s death began to spread. Newspapers were seen everywhere with her bright, smiling face and the giant, bolded letters of ‘death’ stamped on the front pages. Even The New York Times published a newspaper article titled “Marilyn Monroe Dead, Pills Near.” In this article, Dr. Theodore J. Curphey, the coroner, declares Monroe’s death to have not been from natural causes: “After an autopsy the Los Angeles coroner reported that Miss Monroe's ‘was not a natural death.’ He attributed it to a drug” (“Marilyn Monroe Dead, Pills Near”). Her death seemed to be the typical case of overdosing on barbiturates with traces of chloral hydrate which are both sedatives or sleeping pills (Los Angeles County Coroner’s Mortuary, 1962). There

He flaunted his mistress around the town so bluntly as to show that he cared nothing about Delia or their marriage. He was the worst husband possible and did everything he could to disrespect and belittle his wife

An emergency call came in at 9:45 am made by Doug Greene who is a neighbor of the victim Anna Garcia claiming that he had not seen Anna Garcia since her normal morning walk at 6:30 am the previous morning and that the dog had been barking for 2 hours, he had also mentioned that Anna Garcia was wearing a sweater when he had seen her the previous morning while experiencing a 92 degree heat wave. Mr.Greene had called Anna’s telephone with no answer, and had also rang the doorbell with no answer. The EMT and local police had arrived to the scene at 9:56 am, needing to break the door down. EMS discovered Anna Garcia laying face down, dead.

In the nineteen-sixties and early seventies, a wide number of popular musicians and ordinary people died from drug overdose. Carlton was more or less expected to die this was as well, as he regularly experiments with drugs and alcohol. However, Cunningham

Silas Deane, a second-rank diplomat for the United States during the American Revolution, had a very interesting and mysterious life. He went from rags-to-riches right back down to rags in a matter of years. His only “faithful’ friend was Edward Bancroft, a spy. They worked together for a long time, until in 1789 Deane finally decided to travel back to the states. While the ship was waiting out the storm, Deane reported symptoms of illness and suddenly fell dead only four hours after his symptoms. Although some historians believe that Silas Deane committed suicide, it is without a doubt that Edward Bancroft murdered Deane. Deane could not have not committed suicide, for he was not depressed, Bancroft was nervous that Deane would expose his

While it was suspected that these deaths were suspiciously connected in some way, it was questionable as to how they were connected. However, it was noticed by two firefighters monitoring calls that both families had announced that the victims had ingested Tylenol prior to collapsing. The firefighters, Phillip Cappitelli and Richard Keyworth “call[ed] the coroner who confirms capsules of Tylenol obtained from both victim homes and finds 65 milligrams of cyanide in some of them” (Rowe.)

Judias Buenoano, who is sitting on death row in Texas, masqueraded under various pseudonyms for years while she went about killing a couple of husbands, a fiancée and a son for their money. Diana Lumbrera, between 1977 and 1990, smothered her six children to death, one at a time, including a three-month-old daughter. Eventually, Texas doctors got wise, realizing they were not dealing with an unfortunate mother with a streak of bad luck. Lydia Trueblood of Pocatello, Iowa, poisoned an offspring, five husbands and an in-law earlier in the 20th Century. During the 1960s and 1970s, Germany's Maria Velten poisoned two husbands, a lover, an aunt and even her father.