DNA samples may identify Jack the Ripper

Minneapolis Red Star ^ | November 13, 2002 | Robert Kahn

[GreatOne]

Jack the Ripper's DNA could match that of respected British artist Walter Sickert, according to a new book from U.S. crime novelist Patricia Cornwell.

In "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed," excerpted in the December issue of Vanity Fair, Cornwell describes how she and a team of investigators came to their conclusion after analyzing DNA samples from 55 letters, envelopes and stamps sent by Jack the Ripper; Sickert, as well as his wife and his mentor, and Ripper suspect Montague John Druitt.

[SpringheelJack]

Anyways, she has shredded some of his art in order to search from clues.. they think she is a loon.

I agree. It makes as much sense as tearing up a Shakespeare manuscript to see if he was involved in the Gunpowder Plot.

[stanz]

I think she has extensive forensics training. I don't recall whether she was on the police force or an investigator, but she's definitiely more than just a novelist.

[stanz]

Bio on Patricia Cornwell:

"It is important to me to live in the world I write about" says Patricia Cornwell. "If I want a character to do or know something, I want to do or know the same thing." The award-winning former crime reporter for the Charlotte Observer spent six years working for the Virginia Chief Medical Examiner's Office and as a volunteer police officer before she wrote her first Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel, Postmortem. Postmortem received outstanding international acclaim and made her the only author ever to win five major mystery awards in a single year on both sides of the Atlantic for a first novel. Nine subsequent Scarpetta novels become international bestsellers, together with Food to Die For and Scarpetta's Winter Table. She is a graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina and she is also the author of three police procedural novels and A Time for Remembering, a biography of Ruth Graham, wife of the evangelist. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, and she supports several institutions that are concerned with forensic research, victim's support, and animal rescue.

[SpringheelJack]

I think she has extensive forensics training. I don't recall whether she was on the police force or an investigator, but she's definitiely more than just a novelist

She doesn't have "extensive forensics training". She was a computer analyst. See mysteryvault.net/DorothyL/2001/12-December/011208.htm , where there is an detailed discussion of Cornwall's credentials.

[stanz]

Then where did the information in that bio I posted come from? I tried your website, but it only provided a list of points - -nothing to click on.

[stanz]

This is her webpage.

http://www.patriciacornwell.com/about_main.html

[MHT]

One of the most discrediting facts about this candidate for "Ripper" is that he must have quit doing it and lived many more years after the murders. Most serial killers can't stop once they start. It becomes addicting--and the fact that he didn't tell anyone, write more letters later, etc., doesn't connect with the usual serial killer's ego problems, need for recognition/validation, or ability to stay quiet. This guy also had a big ego so keeping a secret wouldn't be his strongest pesonality trait.

I vote for the nutty butcher, Kosminski, after whose admission to Bedlam (or wherever) the murders ended. Also, the police knew who it was and immeidately after they got him locked up, they quit assigning overtime to the force, as if they were pre-scient in their knowledge that the murders were over.

[stanz]

I checked further into your site. Is this what you are referring to:

Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 16:33:32 -0500 From: "Diane K. Kovacs" {diane@kovacs.com} Subject: Patricia Cornewell bio Re: [DOROTHYL] The Ripper According to the Barnes and Noble Web site Biography Patricia Cornwell is "A former award-winning police reporter for The Charlotte Observer, Cornwell worked for more than six years as a computer analyst in Virginia's chief medical examiner's office. There she witnessed hundreds of autopsies and assisted as a scribe, recording the measurements of the wounds of murder victims. She's also volunteered with the Richmond, Virginia police department and spent time observing law enforcement agencies around the world. " http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/authorInfo.asp?authorCode=14 9616&userid=0M1NZG4GJ8&mscssid=&salesurl=Iwww.google.com/search

Well, she's not an expert, but she does have grounding in forensics.

[SpringheelJack]

Then where did the information in that bio I posted come from? I tried your website, but it only provided a list of points - -nothing to click on.

Go to http://hjem.get2net.dk/bnielsen/cornwell.html. Here's an excerpt: "in 1984 she took a job in the Virginia medical examiner's office. For six years she worked at the morgue, first as a technical writer, then as a computer analyst."

[SpringheelJack]

Well, she's not an expert, but she does have grounding in forensics.

But not nearly enough to stake a professional reputation on.

[You Gotta Be Kidding Me]

The DNA samples only identify who wrote the "Jack the Ripper" letters, NOT who commited the crime. There was only one letter that was considered authentic and it was not signed, "Jack the Ripper", it was signed, "Catch me if you can, Mr. Lusk".

There is substantial evidence that M.J. Druit was the killer. If it was not him, it was someone very much like him. Walter Sickert did not come close to matching the physical description of the killer and M.J. Druit is the only suspect who did.

Druit killed himself and the murders stopped. The murderer had been molested by a woman as a child and he, therefore hated and feared women (an FBI criminal profile done in 1988). Druit's mother was insane and was commited in a nut house.

These are just some of the tantilizing evidence pointers that point to Druit.

Read the books by Donald Rumbelow.

[uncbuck]

"Shakespeare manuscript "

Sopposedly he didn't write the plays, there is a movment out there that says some lord wrote them and used WS's name.
Sorry, I forget the lords name, anyone else hear this?

[SpringheelJack]

Sopposedly he didn't write the plays, there is a movment out there that says some lord wrote them and used WS's name. Sorry, I forget the lords name, anyone else hear this?

The Earl of Oxford, although ascribing Shakespeare's works to him has about as much credibility as crediting "Huckleberry Finn" to Rutherford B. Hayes.

[uncbuck]

Thanks.

[AnAmericanMother]

I agree. The typical compulsive serial murderer doesn't "just stop." He is stopped, by death or confinement. It's a little odd, though, that Kozminski, during his 20-odd years of confinement at Colney Hatch, didn't feel compelled to 'fess up at some point.

Other likely suspects are Montague Druitt - since he fits the physical description and the murders stopped after he drowned himself (and McNaghten seemed to think he was the man) - and Francis Tumblety, who fled the country shortly after the last murder. Joseph Barnett is the classic "usual suspect" since he was actually living with one of the victims, but he did not leave town and was not confined. He WAS questioned intently by the police for several hours, which may have frightened him off (but I doubt it).

This is one of those questions that will never be answered - like Judge Crater or Ambrose Bierce.

[Snuffington]

One of the most discrediting facts about this candidate for "Ripper" is that he must have quit doing it and lived many more years after the murders. Most serial killers can't stop once they start.

Actually, Cornwell doesn't think he did stop. She attributes plenty of later murders to him that fit the Ripper "profile."

Whether you're convinced by her arguments or not, you'll probably want to check out the book. I keep seeing arguments from people that she definitely addresses in the book. I know this because there was a "60 minutes" segment about her theory and research. It hit the major challenges to Sickert (including yours), and she promised much more detail in the book.

[AnAmericanMother]

Where and when did these murders occur? I'm curious, because the Ripper murders were so unprecedented and awful that I would think that any similar crimes would have set off alarm bells if they occurred anywhere in Britain.

[Snuffington]

I haven't seen the 60 minutes segment for some time, so I don't exactly recall. She was quite specific about the particular murders she considered candidates, in England and France (though none in London). Sickert was in the vicinity in each case. She even believes one of his more famous paintings was inspired by the scene of one of these later murders. You'll have to dig up the old 60 minutes tape, or see her book for more detail. It's quite interesting.

[stanz]

Well, I give her a lot of credit for defending her theory and stating that her reputation was at stake. I imagine, though, that whether she turns out to be right or not, it still makes for handsome book-selling profits. I should be that bold.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 11/13/2002. Thanks GreatOne.