Posted on 05/16/2006 8:48:57 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
JACK the Ripper could well be a Jill.
In a bid to crack the identity of one of the greatest murder mysteries of all time, technology developed in Australia has tested 118-year-old DNA the notorious serial killer may have left behind and built a partial female profile. Scientist Ian Findlay today said the partial profile had been created from saliva possibly from the Ripper on the back of stamps on the envelopes of letters sent to London police.
Most of the 600 or so letters claiming to have come from the Ripper – who butchered at least five prostitutes in London's East End in 1888 – have been dismissed as hoaxes but a few are thought to be genuine.
Brisbane-based Professor Findlay said he used his method, called Cell Track-ID, capable of extracting and compiling a DNA fingerprint from a single cell or strand of hair up to 160 years old.
It can amplify information from a single cell and is hundreds of times more powerful than DNA profiling techniques used by crime fighting bodies such as the FBI that require at least 200 human cells.
"It's possible the Ripper could be female but the results are inconclusive," said Prof Findlay, who is the chief scientific officer at the Gribbles Molecular Science forensic lab.
He said because the samples were so old, very small and poorly preserved, only a partial profile was built that "didn't reach forensic standards" nor identified an individual.
"It shows the technology works ... the FBI lab in Virginia got no profiles ... but the samples were just too difficult," Prof Findlay said.
The partial profile was built from what is known as the Openshaw letter.
"The Dear Boss letter, said to have blood stains from (victim number five) Mary Kelly had a male profile so it wasn't the blood of Mary Kelly," he also said.
Prof Findlay tested hair and debunked the belief it was from another mutilated victim, Catherine Eddowes.
The detective in charge of the case, Frederick Abberline, suggested the Ripper was a woman following claims Ms Kelly was seen hours after she was killed.
Abberline believed this was the killer escaping in Kelly's clothes.
Mary Pearcey was the only female suspect and was convicted and hanged for killing her lover's wife shortly after the Ripper murders – and reportedly used the same modus operandi.
Bloody feminists are everywhere!!!!!
Bloody idiots with far too much time on their hands, more like. :-)
Jill the Ripper must have been an angry wife, whose husband slept with hookers.
I thought Jack the Ripper was really the Loch Ness Monster.
Or maybe an ugly hooker who wanted less competition.
Maybe Helen Thomas's granma???
Heck... How about just Helen Thomas?
She's probably that old...
Fair point. She could disembowel just by looking at her...
Then again, a time traveling Hillary Clinton... Killed a hooker in the past for every single time she caught her husband with one in the present.
When I describe myself as a liberal to my conservative friends I always end up explaining......
By liberal I mean listening to all sides of an argument......reading extensively in many different newspapers online......constantly learning new things....open to suggestions........eager to try new recipes.....etc.
I'm liberal in the tradition of our founding fathers.
I'm a congenital optimist........
and I loved the movie......
DANNY DECK CHAIR.
that says it all!!
It's possible...but where does Vince Foster fit in all this?
Jack the Ripper was on the grassy knoll.
Wrong place, wrong friends, wrong time.
I've not seen the movie but the rest I can relate to in a big way!
I'm an avid Ripperologist, but this article is THE most ridiculous, stupid, far out there theory, I have EVER heard or read. And since I've read just about every "RIPPER" book out there and seen every movie and T.V. show as well...that's saying a lot. :-)
Be afraid, be very afraid. BOO! (heh heh) ;)
Sort of a misleading headline.
"It's possible the Ripper could be female but the results are inconclusive," said Prof Findlay, who is the chief scientific officer at the Gribbles Molecular Science forensic lab.
He said because the samples were so old, very small and poorly preserved, only a partial profile was built that "didn't reach forensic standards" nor identified an individual.
Coming to a bookstore near you. LOL This is the stuff a NEW Ripper thriller will be based on. We'd have to be ripped to believe it. ;)
"Ripperologist"? Isn't that what they used to call a proctologist? ;)
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