Can You Believe It!?! Where is the Body? or the Case of the Missing Corpus Delicti

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WHERE IS THE BODY?
- OR -
THE CASE OF
THE MISSING CORPUS DELICTI

BOSTON, 1850

It was George Parkman's protruding jaw that did in John Webster. The jaw, plus an unusual set of false teeth made specially to fit it.

Both men were faculty members at Harvard Medical College. Both socialized in the rarefied world of Boston's elite. But George Parkman, medical doctor, was a true "Boston Brahmin" with inherited money to fund his lifestyle. John Webster, chemist and mineralogist, lived from paycheck to paycheck. As a college professor, he didn't have the needed funds to keep up the pretense.

Dr. Parkman had money to spare and loaned Dr. Webster more than $400. But Parkman never viewed Webster as a charity case. He wanted his money back. Webster had no way to repay it.

Around Thanksgiving Day, 1849, Parkman became more insistent. He went to Webster's lab at the medical college and gave Webster an ultimatum: Pay the money or lose the job. Parkman, who had previously donated land to the medical college, certainly had the wherewithal to make good on his threat. He had lots of influence with powerful people.

Dr. Webster lost his temper. He grabbed a piece of wood from his lab fireplace and savagely struck Dr. Parkman, fracturing his skull. Shocked at what he had done, Webster tried to revive Parkman. There was no point. Parkman was dead.

Now what? Panicked, Webster thought of only one thing: get rid of the evidence. He must have forgotten some folks knew about the quarrel over money. He must have forgotten the janitor, Ephraim Littlefield, saw both men arguing that day. Only one thing mattered to Webster: hide the crime.

Bolting the lab door so no one could enter, Dr. Webster butchered Dr. Parkman's body. He wanted to cut everything up so he could burn the pieces faster. As he burned what he could, Webster must have thought no evidence would be left but ashes. How would anyone identify ashes?

When Parkman didn't return home (his house still stands at 33 Beacon Street), his family became frantic. They issued a reward to learn of his whereabouts.