Murder conviction without a body

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Criminal law
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It is possible to convict someone of murder without the purported victim's body in evidence. However, cases of this type have historically been hard to prove, often forcing the prosecution to rely on circumstantial evidence, and in England there was for centuries a mistaken view that in the absence of a body a killer could not be tried for murder. Developments in forensic science in recent decades have made it more likely that a murder conviction can be obtained even if a body has not been found.^[1]

In some such cases, the resurfacing of the victim (alive) has ensured the re-trial and acquittal of the alleged culprit, including posthumously, such as the case of the Campden Wonder.