First U.S. Murderer Convicted Without Body of Victim Dies

Leonard Ewing Scott, whose conviction 30 years ago paved the way for successful prosecutions of murder cases in which no body could be found, died Aug. 17 at the Skyline Convalescent Hospital. He was 91 years old.

Mr. Scott's body remains unclaimed at the Los Angeles County morgue, a spokeswoman for the county, Kathy Dickinson, said Tuesday. He had no known survivors.

Mr. Scott was convicted of killing his wife, Evelyn Throsby Scott, who was last seen alive at the couple's home here on May 16, 1955. Her dentures, glasses and other personal items were found near an incinerator in the back yard of the couple's home. Fugitive in Canada

After his wife's disappearance, Mr. Scott fled to Canada. He was indicted for murder and was listed as a fugitive for a year before being arrested in Canada and returned to Los Angeles.

Mr. Scott denied killing his wife, and the bulk of the evidence against the former investment consultant at his 1957 trial was circumstantial. Prosecutors said Mr. Scott killed his wife because of her alcoholism and medical problems and because he had learned she had been married five times previously.

Prosecutors recommended a death sentence but jurors sentenced him to life in prison. He was released in 1978, after serving 21 years.

Since Mr. Scott's trial, several convictions have been obtained at murder trails without the victims having been found.

Diane Wagner, the author of ''Corpus Delecti,'' an account of the case published last year, said Mr. Scott eventually confessed. She said Mr. Scott told her he killed his wife with one blow to the head with a rubber mallet, then buried her in the Nevada desert.

''I can't tell you why he confessed,'' Ms. Wagner said Tuesday. ''He called up and said he had a story to tell me and that's what it was.''