Jeannie Donald case

When and where: Aberdeen, scotland at Half past one on the afternoon of April 20,1934 Helen was sent to to buy bread for her mom at a near by bread shop when no return of helen, Mrs.Priestly went out to the bread shop to see if she had even made it there. Staff confirmed that she had brought a loaf at just after half past hour, and was seen walking homeward at 1:45pm Helen’s body was found the next morning at 5o'clock in the buildings lavatory.

Key Players: Helen Priestley (victim):8 year old girl who lived with her parents in a three floor tenement house in Aberdeen, Scotland. Alexander and Jeannie Donald (suspects): a couple who lived downstairs from the Priestly’s. an isolated couple who did not contribute in the search to find Helen. Dr. richards (The police Surgeon): first to find Helen in the search. Interviewed all men who lived in the same building as Helen who could have access to the lavatory room. Theodore Shennan ( professor of pathology): performed the autopsy on Helen

Evidence: -Sack: where Helen was found fully clothed except for her underwear. rigor mortis had set in of canadian make found several of the same bag with a hole in one corner in the Donalds apartment -Vomit: found on her dress in which was shown to be a possible result of the cinder thrown into the bag - The body of Helen was found on its right side but postmortem lividity shows that the body was laid on its left for several hours after death - blood on her tights and dress - injuries to her genitals indicated that she was severely raped. Autopsy: death resulted from asphyxia vomit was found in the windpipe and the smaller air tubes bruises on her neck, typical of manual strangulation. fractured the voice box and windpipe. beside tearing of sexual organ no seman was presented. They imitated rape

Helen’s last meal was meat and potatoes eaten at half past twelve indicating that her death occurred no later that two o'clock. Hair: found in the sack along with animal hair - did not match with Helen’s hair - when compared with Mrs.Donalds hair it was a match traces of cat, rabbit hair were found. Fibers of cotton, wool, silk, linen and jute dye different colors were also found in the sack : compared with using microchemical and spectroscopic analysis revealed that no fewer than twenty-five different fibers were a match, including the human and animal hair. examples taken from other apartments to compare with the ones found at the crime scene were no match spots on the carpet, washcloth, a scrubbing brush, a pack of soap flakes, and two newspapers dated the day before the crime was found in the Donald's apartment after re-examining it further

apartment building Jeannie Donald

Bacterial contamination: Gathering up the victims clothing, with the bloodstained articles found in the Donalds apartment smith and his colleague reexamined the evidence to come across an unusual strain that never been encountered before, except for the donalds apartment.

Outcome: The trial began on July 16, 1934 most of the testimony was given over to medical and scientific evidence Smith produced 253 separate and diverse items for the prosecutor. - Donald’s death sentenced was later commuted to life imprisonment because of smith's belief she wasn't intentionally trying to kill Helen. - It was later known that Helen had a habit of calling Mrs.Donald “ coconut” because of her frizzy hair. - with the death of Sir Sydney Smith in 1969, forensic science had lost one of its finest and fairest practitioners.