Jack the Ripper was a Polish hairdresser who died in an asylum

[CathyInBlue]

Jack the Ripper unmasked: How amateur sleuth used DNA breakthrough to identify Britain's most notorious criminal 126 years after string of terrible murders | Mail Online

His name was Aaron Kosminski.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Kosminski

 

[MCgrease08]

Wow that's pretty amazing detective work. Not bad for an amateur with nothing but a hunch and a blood stained shawl.

 

[ModernGunner]

Absolutely, positive, guaranteed it's Aaron Kosminsky.

UNTIL the next piece of 'infallible' evidence is presented, OR that the evidence presented may not be 'evidential' in nature, OR DNA is discovered not to 100% exact (it already isn't), OR some newer '100% proof-positive' technology comes along, OR...

'Of course', there's always this 'little tidbit': Jack the Ripper finally identified by DNA? Maybe, maybe not ... | OregonLive.com

'Curiously', if one Google's the name of Jari Louhelainen (the scientist), no association with the Ripper case or amateur sleuth Russell Edwards pops up at all outside Louhelainen's name mentioned in 'The Daily Mail ' - U.K. (linked article). A bit 'odd' considering the 'bombshell' revealed, eh?

'Curiouser' is the fact that this 'landmark discovery' article in 'The Daily Mail' is written by Russell Edwards himself.

'Curiouserer' is the fact that Edwards 'revealed' his discovery on the eve prior to the release of his book on the subject. And of course, the inevitable History / Discovery / TruTV / channel 'special' AND ensuing 'yet to be announced' movie. If it turns out to be ficticious, Edwards will STILL reap millions from the lie. Remember Al Gore with his lying "Inconvenient Truth"? Gore pocketed $$millions$$ (IIRC, at least $100 million, so far) from that 'fantasy' movie, now soundly proven to have been a load of

'Curiousererer' is the fact that there's no "provenance", no proven, established fact that the shawl which contains the 'revelatory' DNA blood sample ever even belonged to Catherine Eddowes, the Ripper's 4th victim (of the 'canonical five'). The shawl appears to have been just passed along over the last 126 years with the 'claim' that it belonged to Eddowes.

Hardly 'hard evidence', being that I've also seen about a half dozen different "Bonnie & Clyde Death Cars" over the last 50+ years, along with just as many 'Official, One and ONLY!!' Al Capone bulletproof Caddys, LOL...

As the brilliant Carl Sagan once noted: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof". From Edwards, there appears that may not be the case. But he'll STILL get rich from it. Motive to mislead?

"Inquiring minds want to know"!

Just sayin'...

 

[TheDude]

Okay, interesting but finding seminal fluid on a prostitutes shawl is great detective work, but.....couldn't it be from a previous John?

 

[hoosierdoc]

It does sound suspiciously timed

 

[Hkindiana]

Okay, interesting but finding seminal fluid on a prostitutes shawl is great detective work, but.....couldn't it be from a previous John?

The article stated that the cloak was too expensive to have belonged to the prostitute, and most likely belonged to the murderer

 

[Trigger Time]

That's pretty amazing!! This case was always interesting to me how they never found the high profile killer. Never knew they ha surveillance on a primary suspect either. Interesting.

 

[hoosierdoc]

The article stated that the cloak was too expensive to have belonged to the prostitute, and most likely belonged to the murderer

Can't tell if it's men's or women's cloak? Was it sized for the victim? Cost would be an odd thing to conclusively say who owned it. I know of women who received quite nice gifts from guys that they could not afford on their own.

 

[Hkindiana]

Can't tell if it's men's or women's cloak? Was it sized for the victim? Cost would be an odd thing to conclusively say who owned it. I know of women who received quite nice gifts from guys that they could not afford on their own.

When you read the article, you are informed that the prostitute was so poor that she sod her own shoes the day before the murder. I think its doubtful that she would have kept an expensive cloak over a pair of shoes.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

was so poor that she sod her own shoes the day before the murder.

When I mowed the lawn yesterday, I sod my shoes too.

 

[Who Dares Wins]

The article also said that the police were confident they knew who it was and one of the original detectives named Aaron Kasminsky as being the culprit. If it is a hoax it is very elaborate and they would have had to plant evidence from the DNA of the descendents to make it work.

Quote:

"McCormack said police did not have enough evidence to convict Kosminski, despite identification by a witness, but kept him under 24-hour surveillance until he was committed to mental asylums for the rest of his life."

I am thinking it is fantastic science/detective work. They didn't have enough to convict him or it wasn't worth the effort if he was obviously deranged and they just put him in a mental asylum and the murders stopped.

 

[Who Dares Wins]

Amazing story by the way.

 

[Who Dares Wins]

Also, the timing may look suspicious, but I would bet they figured it out a few months ago and realized that they were sitting on a gold mine. Write the book, get it published and then share your results. I am sure others will double check the validity going forwards, but there is a reasonable story here.

 

[TheDude]

The article stated that the cloak was too expensive to have belonged to the prostitute, and most likely belonged to the murderer

Going back to reread, don't remember that..

 

[Thor]

When I mowed the lawn yesterday, I sod my shoes too.

That's a shoddy reply...

 

[hammer24]

The title of this thread sounds like a Warren Zevon lyric!

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

If one be believes a critical test of another's veracity is what Media Matters believes, I have to raise an eye brow at their analysis as well.

If you note a skeptical tone here in reporting this, it's because of the following:

1. The Daily Mail's reporting on science and scientific evidence is — let's say — not known to be robust. For example, Media Matters took them to task last year for their reporting on climate change.

 

[Thor]

And his hair was perfect...

 

[D-Ric902]

Studied the case.
Did my library science thesis on it.
I still like Dr. M. J. Druitt

 

[Hkindiana]

Studied the case.
Did my library science thesis on it.
I still like Dr. M. J. Druitt

Yeah, just like in the OJ Simpson case when a juror who voted him innocent said: "if it wasn't for the DNA evidence, they wouldn't have had any evidence"