DETECTIVES hunting the killer of a Scots nurse at a seminary in the

United States have identified two theology students as major suspects.

Miss Elizabeth Mackintosh, 50, the daughter of a former Moderator of

the Free Church of Scotland, was found strangled with a chord and

stabbed in the neck in toilets at the Covenant Theological Seminary,

near St Louis, Missouri.

Since the discovery of her body almost three weeks ago, detectives

have been working on a ''grudge or revenge'' motive.

Captain Frank Harris, of the Creve Coeur police department, heading

the murder investigation in which around 300 people have been questioned

at the campus, said yesterday that they were ''targeting'' two students

as major suspects.

''We are looking at a couple of people,'' he said. However, he

believed the killing was the work of one person. ''We have made no

arrest in the investigation as yet and are building up a case.

''We are hopeful of an early arrest in this case.''

The trained nurse and health visitor, studying at the seminary for a

degree in counselling, was found murdered on March 26 in the men's

toilets where she had been engaged in cleaning work to pay for her

course fees.

The body of Miss Mackintosh, whose parents live in Edinburgh, has been

flown back to Scotland.