Episode 39: Alfred Rouse and The Burning Car Murder

The Dark Oak

In 1930, Alfred Rouse, finding himself in financial trouble, faked his own death by purposefully setting his car, a Morris Minor, ablaze. To make the grizzly scene more believable, he murdered a man and placed him at the scene. The victim's identity has been a mystery for almost 100 years in what would come to be called The Burning Car Murder.

But, in 2015, DNA from the victim was found preserved in an archival slide. Now, the search is on to match his DNA using an ancestorial search and find his identity. Could you hold a clue?

Sources:

Brief Case. (2020, May 4). The dark & horrifying case of Alfred Rouse | The blazing car murderer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-MFLZECkP8

Time Capsule Tales on X: “In 1930, Alfred Rouse planned to fake his own death . . . https://t.co/czK7DrnjZ3” / X. (n.d.). X (Formerly Twitter). https://twitter.com/timecaptales/status/1767350914992455725

BBC News. (2022, August 3). New cross marks grave of unidentified Alfred Rouse victim. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-62392081

BBC News. (2017, November 11). Alfred Rouse “blazing car murder”: Dozen missing people ruled out. Bbc. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-41886193

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep