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.
Ever see "Amazon Women on the Moon"? That claim is made very credibly in that movie!
Nice choppers, there.
Great. They just identified the old lady at the post office.
Here is the background. "Jill" was denied membership in the Freemasons, so she went on a killing spree, leaving evidence of a Masonic ritualist killing in each incident.
I'll bet she could eat an apple through a picket fence.
Jack the Ripper was a composite for three Amish teenagers.
All she wanted was her tree-fiddy.
Rumor has it, that the heirs to that bloodline moved to America and rose to political prominence in the state of Arkansas and that one of the "Ripper's" descendants even became president.
Who's the most likely suspect in your opinion?
She's no looker, that's for sure. What is the matter with her lower jaw? (If it's a healed traumatic injury to the mandible, that's probably why she appears to have such a rotten overbite.)
Obviously not all of them. I can name of a couple even more more ridiculous, stupid, far out theories.
I rate the chances of it being Druitt as less thnn 50%, so I wouldn't put the rent money on him, but MscNaghten's prime suspect looks better for it than anyone else. (second place to person or persons unknown)
Have you read Patrica Cornwell's book about it? According to her, the real Jack the Ripper was some man who came to the US around the turn of the century and died here.
Starring the great Henry "Did I take this job for a quick buck?" Silva. Isn't it a great movie?
I agree. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the physical evidence can recognise that there is little, if any, chance that Jack was a Jill.
ping
The Masonic one was stupid.
Prince Eddy was "fun", but also dumb.
James Maybrick's diary is a hoax.
Shall I continue? :-)
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