"Surely, Prefect, this has gone far enough!"
Posted on 03/19/2019 6:50:39 AM PDT by Red Badger
Researchers tested blood and semen found on a shawl near the body of the killer's fourth victim, a woman whose mutilated body was found in September 1888.
The identity of Jack the Ripper, the notorious serial killer from the late 1800s in England, may finally be known.
A DNA forensic investigation published this month by two British researchers in the Journal of Forensic Science identifies Aaron Kosminski, a 23-year-old Polish barber and prime suspect at the time, as the likely killer.
The "semen stains match the sequences of one of the main police suspects, Aaron Kosminski," said the study authored by Jari Louhelainen of Liverpool John Moores University and David Miller of the University of Leeds.
The murderer dubbed Jack the Ripper killed at least five women from August to November 1888 in the Whitechapel district of London.
The study's authors conducted genetic testing of blood and semen on a shawl found near the body of Catherine Eddowes, the killer's fourth victim, whose badly mutilated body was discovered on Sept. 30, 1888.
The brutal murders and the mystery behind the killer's identity and motive inspired countless novels, films and theories over the past 130 years.
Kosminski, who apparently vanished after the murders, has previously been named as a possible suspect, but his guilt has been a matter of debate and never confirmed.
The researchers said they have been analyzing the silk shawl for the past eight years and that to their knowledge "the shawl referred to in this paper is the only piece of physical evidence known to be associated with these murders."
Through analysis of fragments of the victim and suspect's mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down solely from one's mother, researchers were able to compare that with samples taken from living descendants of Eddowes and Kosminski.
The paper also states that the suspect's "observable" characteristics, derived from DNA, match the only eyewitness account to the murders, which law enforcement had ruled "considerably reliable."
The study said its findings represent the first "systematic, molecular level analysis of the only surviving physical evidence linked to the Jack the Ripper murders."
I disagree with that.
Life is full of hard choices, and disappointment. We all have our cross to bear.
It often doesn’t go well when your kids find out - that is why a lot of unwed mothers “live with it”, keep it a secret, and don’t tell (hubby/kids). Often, they are not agreeable to having the intrusion/upset in their lives of the child given up for adoption making an appearance (phone call, letter, in person) one day.
This is why I remarked that the situation I described ended up a very happy reunion. The mother had been haunted for years about the little girl she gave up hours after birth & had searched for her - wrote a letter to her every year on her birthday, sent to the unwed mother’s home (they did not pass them on to the adopting parents). Her kids did know there was a child outside of marriage prior to their father. They have been very kind and welcoming, which was quite a blessing because it easily could have been the opposite. Each circumstance is unique.
That popped into my head, too. Loved that flick.
“Devil In The White City”
The rights to the book are owned by Cruiz or DiCaprio. It is a facinating, detailed, frightening, “true crime story” in which H.H. Holmes is eventuality found out, tracked down, caught, tried, convicted and executed.
A film could not do the story justice, there is way too much there to gloss over. However, it would instead make an outstanding HBO, Netflix or Amazon Prime mini series. Especially if DiCaprio played H.H. HOLMES.
If they simply and accurately told the story without embellishing it or “Hollywoodizing” it, they would have a sure-fire hit on their hands. It literally has everything that you could ask for and the facts behind the story are far more interesting than anything Hollywood could dream ip.
No, I think you’re confusing decedents with ancestors. I had to think about it for a second too.
"Surely, Prefect, this has gone far enough!"
Great book-—I hope the movie does it justice.
.
A year or so ago, one of the cable channels had a documentary called "American Ripper". It was about an American who was convinced that a relative of his was actually Jack the Ripper.
After watching this show, I was pretty well convinved that this mans relative was Jack the Ripper.
One of the reasons I decided he was a good fit for the Ripper was that when the Ripper killings stopped, this guy, H.H. Holmes, was on a ship back to the States. He was an American Medical Student doing an internship in London. Shortly after the date he arrived back in NYC, a string of "ripper like" murders began to occur.
He moved around a lot, and he was in Chicago during the World's Fair, when many young women simply disappeared while attending the Fair. He had bought a hotel and redesigned the inside so that he could murder someone (with gas), then easily get the body down to the basement where he would dissect them. The hotel was later dubbed, "The Murder Hotel".
It was an interesting show on the subject, though a bit repetitious.
Exactly, except no one would believe that it actually happened.
A living decedent would be a Zombie...................
I have posted about this a little futher down the thread; but, there was a show called American Ripper on one of the cable channels about a year ago, and it followed the story of H.H. Holmes. One of the people doing the detective work was related to H.H.Holmes, and he says his family has always thought that he was the Ripper.
Exactly that happened in our in-laws’ family two years ago. The long-lost son was received with open arms by the entire legitimate family. Really amazing. Humans have the ability to be sensitive and accepting — sometimes.
The kid given up didn’t have a choice.
The kid given up didn’t have a choice.
I loved that movie. I loved both Malcolm McDonald and David Warner. I might have to watch that movie this weekend.
I would rather be a blob in a bucket than not know where i came from.
If these kids show up thru DNA good for them.the mom’s are worrying about their husbands not their other kids. Giving birth has responsibilities.
DAD!!!!!!!!!
Adoption records and birth certificates should not be sealed.
That’s right. What’s he hiding?
The Jack the Ripper mystery, like the Ted Bundy murders, is to me, unsettling, to say the least, mostly because the details are usually only alluded to -— never actually completely spelled out. I’m sure I don’t really want to know the gory details, and that they would haunt me, to know them, anyway. I feel much like I did as a child, when details of anything I was forbidden to know reached me in bits and pieces -— I had a strong need to have complete information, yet I also knew I would probably wish I’d never been informed of them.
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