The Perplexing Case Of the 'Eight - Day' Bride

The honeymoon case; was it a simple suicide or a love triangle?

Background

It was an uncanny evening on the 20th of May, 1947 in Canada. The stiff body of 22-year-old Christina Kettlewell was discovered 150 feet from her honeymoon cottage in 9 inches of water on the bank of a river in Severn Falls, Ontario.

The woman on the left of this photograph was Christina Kettlewell. A young, budding clerk who worked at a bank. She was referred to as a ‘competent’ employee. Strangely, she decided to leave her boring life and eloped with John Ray Kettlewell; the man on the right, better known as ‘Jack’.

Jack was a war veteran stationed in the dental corps. Unfortunately, her family was distressed by their relationship.

The man in this photograph was Jack’s best friend; Ronald Barrie, the second lead in the case. He was a 28-year-old professional ballroom dancer.

The three spent an unusual amount of time together. Later during interrogation, Helen (Christina’s sister) would comment ‘It seemed like Ronald was in love with Christina’. After they eloped, they spent the next few days in an apartment in Toronto with Ronald accompanying them through the entire honeymoon. Finally, on May 17th the trio went to Ronald’s secluded cottage which was only accessible by boat.

This is when strange things started to occur. During their time in the cottage, it was reported that Christina was often in a daze or would be seen crying for extended periods of time. According to the evidence, it is safe to assume that Christina questioned Ronald if Jack truly loved her. On the 20th, Christina mysteriously disappeared which was the same day that the cottage caught on fire. Ronald returned to the cottage to find an unsettled Jack with a head injury and pulled him out of the flames. He looked for Christina but she was nowhere to be found. He rushed Jack to the hospital and rang the police. He recalled that the cottage had burned down in just under an hour. 

That very evening, Christina’s corpse was discovered in the 9-inch water. However, it is interesting to note that there were no signs of burns or abuse. An autopsy found traces of codeine; a drug used to relieve pain and coughing. But her ‘final’ cause of death was declared drowning. It should also be noted that Major Lawrence Scardifield informed that he did not see any signs of a body when he went to fetch water to contain the blaze.

How Did She Die?

Theory #1 - Christina Kettlewell was mentally ill and decided to take her own life.

The major evidence that supports this theory was that Christina Kettlewell wrote 3 suicide letters all addressed to Ronald a few days before her demise. These notes were discovered during the investigation.

The first note was addressed to Ronald, written roughly 5 weeks before her wedding. In it she writes that she attempted to poison herself and rambles about the ‘uncertainty of receiving a proposal’ from Jack. She states ‘This will be the best way out... as I cannot bear to see another girl with him’

Jack recalls that Christina had been sick that day and claimed that he was unaware of the suicide notes.

The second note was written towards the end of April. However this time, her intention was not only to kill herself but also Jack. 

The following was extracted from her note -

‘When you love someone, you really love him, and I know there is no one for me but Jack, and if I cannot have him, I do not intend anyone else to. I waited, as you might say, in the hope that Jack would ask me to marry him, but I now realize I am just a passing fancy’

This hints at Christina’s state of mind as she seems keen on keeping Jack only to herself.

The final note was written on the day before she died. But this time it was addressed to a Mrs. Thomas, who owned the place where Jack, Ronald and Christina stayed for a bit. She asked Ronald to mail it for her. 

The following was extracted from the note :

‘Ronnie is in the boat outside somewhere. By the time he gets back, everything will be all over with. He must have been afraid something would happen, because he is staying an extra day to make sure we go back to Toronto with him’

These letters were confirmed to be Christina’s handwriting by an expert. Jack was always unaware of these letters. However, it is strange that Ronald chose to retrieve them despite the cottage being ablaze.

Theory #2 - Jack & Ronald planned this out.

There are quite a few pieces of evidence that suggests that the duo were behind her death. The first proof being that they purchased a series of insurance policies before Christina’s death. Oddly, Jack took out 2 policies; one for himself and a separate one of Christina. There was a policy that if there was an accidental death, the beneficiary would collect a sum of $200,000 US dollars (today). 

However, the beneficiary for both policies was named Ronald. Ronald had also taken out an insurance policy for his cottage which we know had burned down. What is interesting is that he named Jack as the beneficiary for his policy; almost as if they knew this would happen. It should also be noted that Jack removed all his family from his will for unknown reasons. 

The second piece of evidence is Christina’s wedding ring. It was never recovered from her body and is estimated to be worth anywhere from $1000 to $13,000 dollars. Investigators speculated if the ring was indeed bought for Christina or if it was borrowed from one of Ronald’s married friends.

During the interrogation, Jack referred to his relationship with Ronald as intimate. However, he dismissed it and said that he was pressured by the police to say these things. In the official report, they described their relationship as ‘to put it mildly, to be unnatural’. After repeated questioning, Jack reluctantly agreed to Mr.Hope’s statement that he and Ronald were male lovers.

Conclusion/Final Thoughts

The mystery of this case still is popular among numerous people and many have tried to theorize what had actually occurred. Evidently, there are many theories as to what occurred to them. However, the theories above are the two most popular ones.

I believe that Christina either tried to kill herself or her death was accidental. With her proximity to Jack, I suppose she realized that Jack’s and Ronald’s relationship was intimate, it was more than friendship. She must have been devastated and we saw apparent crying fits during her time in the cottage. I believe that the suidice notes were a form of her saying ‘stay away from Jack or I’ll kill him and myself’ to Ronald. He might have accompanied them to the cottage in order to protect Jack. This could have led her to feel isolated and then prompted her to go outside on the day of her death.

She either went and drowned herself intentionally or she wanted to return halfway and attempted to swim; remember the cottage isn’t accessible without a boat. She could have drowned when swimming as the codeine was having its effects on her body. She might have been ingesting codeine weeks before their trip to the cottage. The insurance policies might have been taken due to many reasons. But one that I think could be true is; Jack feared Ronald would not get any financial benefits later on as he married Christina instead. It could be a form of compensation for Ronald for not being with him. Ronald could have also done the same for Jack and named him as the beneficiary due to their relationship.

All in all, this case still remains a mystery and we are compelled to rely on our speculations and theories.

Time may fade the memories, but it can never erase the pain of an unsolved mystery.