Autopsies of Ellis Ruley and Douglas Harris reveal possible murder, hypothermia
Readers of my novel WE ARE WATER may remember a character named Josephus Jones. He was a fictional composite of Norwich CT outsider artist Ellis Ruley and Ruley’s son-in-law, Douglas Harris. The deaths of both men were ruled “accidental,” but there has always been suspicion that one or both were murdered. This past Monday, the results of recent autopsies after the exhumation of both bodies concluded that Harris was definitely murdered in 1948 and foul play could neither be confirmed nor ruled out in the case of Ruley’s 1959 death. My thoughts are with the Ruley family.