WOMAN’S LIPSTICK MARKS

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 July 1939, Page 12

WOMAN’S LIPSTICK MARKS

CLUE TO DEATH IN LAUNDRY

SYDNEY, July 6

Reconstruction of a tragedy in a suburban laundry has convinced detectives and doctors that Mrs Lorna Ruth Costllo, aged' 30, was not electrocuted, as believed at the time, but that she died from shock when a kerchief tied around her head and neck was caught in her electric washingmachine roller, dragging her slowly towards it. A red substance found on one of the rollers proved to be Mrs Costella’s| lipstick, suggesting that her lips had actually touched the roller as her head was drawn towards the machine.

The case provides one of the most extraordinary instances of investigation in recent years, and' the newlyformed scientific bureau at the' Criminal Investigation Branch played a

major part in it. The lipstick on one of the rubber rollers of the rinser provided the main clue. County Council and Local Government Department experts could not find any fault in the machine, so the City Coroner (Mr Oram) ordered that the body should be exhumed. A second autopsy confirmed the belief that shock had caused death. Detectives, given the task of solving the mystery, closely examined the copper in the laundry, and' saw that several white articles had been rinsed through the rollers into the boiler. Mixed with tho clothing were tattered parts of a red woollen handkerchief. The police realised that no woman would put dyed material with white linen, because the dye would run. They concluded the kerchief must have been tied around Mrs Costello’s neck, and remembered that in the post-mortem examination doctors found' a long mark, like a, bruise or a bu.rn, on the back of the neck. On the rollers detectives found a slight red smudge, which a microscopic examination revealed to be lipstick. The Government Analyst (Dr. Walton) proved that it came Hom Mrs Costello’s lipstick. The police were convinced that Mrs Costello’s kerchief, which she wore to save her hair from the effects of steani, caught in the rollers as she leaned over them, that her lips had touched one roller as the strain broke tho kerchief, causing the bruising at the back of the neck, and that, terrified of being drawn into the rollers, she died of shock as she fell to the floor.

To test their theory, the police visited city shops and found that similar kerchiefs were sold at two of the main stores. Then they asked' a girl to re-enact the death segne lor them, using a, similar machine. When the girl leaned over the machine the kerchief became caught and she was drawn towards it. The power was switched off. A. similar result was achieved when a man placed a kerchief around his arm. The strain bruised ■the flesh even through his coat and shirt sleeves.