The investigation started a short while after Crippen said that Cora had died in California. At that time, Mr John E. Nash, one of Cora’s friends was in California on business, and when he asked Cora’s relatives about her, they didn’t know anything about her coming to America. When he returned he voiced his suspicions to Scotland Yard, and they sent Chief Detective Inspector Dew to investigate. When Dew arrived he found Ethel Le Neve Running the house, and Crippen gave him a thorough tour of the house, including the cellar, but he confessed that Cora was not dead, that she had fled to America with Bruce Miller. When asked why he had said that she had died, he said it was an attempt to save themselves from the scandal of being left by his wife without getting a proper divorce. Dew seemed to accept Crippen’s story, and left. Then Crippen made his biggest mistake, he fled for Canada with Ethel. When Dew returned a short while later to check some dates with Crippen, and found the house empty, he immediately raised the alarm, so to speak. He requested some more men, and started an even more thorough inspection of the house. While inspecting the cellar, he used a poker from the kitchen to lift some loose bricks, and after digging for a short while he found mutilated human remains. He found that they had left the country for Canada and sent wireless telegram messages to all ships bound for Canada that were fitted with wireless telegram equipment. When he received a reply from the SS Montrose, he immediately set off onboard a faster ship, the SS Laurentic, and overtook the Montrose, and arrested Crippen on the 31st of July. They were detained in Quebec and returned to England on the 28th of August.
