Thread: Mystery Solved ??

After 126 Years Of Anonymity, Infamous Serial Killer Jack The Ripper Has Finally Been Unmasked
By Justen Charters 9 hours ago

For 126 years, the identity behind London’s most vicious serial killer, Jack the Ripper, was a mystery. However, thanks to breakthrough DNA testing technology, we can finally add a name and a face to the madman.

From the Mirror: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...solved-4177665

The true identity of notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper can now be revealed thanks to a DNA breakthrough, it has been claimed.

Author and self confessed “armchair detective” Russell Edwards claims to have solved perhaps the most notorious whodunit ever.

Mr Edwards claims Aaron Kosminski, a 23 year-old Polish immigrant who ended up dying in an asylum, was “definitely, categorically and absolutely” the man behind the grisly killing spree in 1888 in London’s East End

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The smoking gun was discovered when Edwards purchased a bloodstained shawl at an auction that belonged to one of Jack the Ripper’s victims.



The shawl ended up having some of Kosminski’s blood on it as well, and DNA analysis led to the major discovery.

Jack the Ripper was one of England’s most barbaric serial killers. He butchered five women within a three month period and was allegedly responsible for thirteen other murders, although the Ripper was never caught for his acts. His legend lived on through books and movies. http://www.casebook.org/victims/

In addition, Edwards’ fascination with trying to track down the identity of Jack the Ripper came from watching Hollywood star Johnny Depp’s film In Hell. In the film, Depp plays a detective trying to crack the case of Jack the Ripper. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120681/




If Kosminksi is the man behind the mask, it’s an interesting find to say the least, and here’s why:

◾The only time Kosminksi allegedly showed a violent side was when he once picked up a chair and tried to hit someone with it.

◾Records of Kosminski made it clear that he wasn’t a danger to others.

◾He was documented as a “harmless imbecile.”

It appears now that was all an act, and Kosminski may have eluded the Sherlock Holmes of his time. However, with the technologies we now use to fight crime in the 21st century, his cunning and wit didn’t stand a chance.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/09/1754...ally-unmasked/

The question would still be HOW did Kosminski's blood come to be on the shawl ? It would be circumstantial at best.

Was It Aaron Kosminski? Jack the Ripper DNA Claims Get Ripped
By Alan Boyle First published September 8th 2014, 2:48 pm

Does DNA analysis prove conclusively that a deranged Polish barber named Aaron Kosminski was behind the famous "Jack the Ripper" murders of the 19th century? The claim has stirred up a hue and cry among professional and amateur sleuths who have been following the case for decades — proving only that the evidence is far from conclusive. "Literally, we see articles like this a couple of times a year, but this one has gone viral," said Stephen P. Ryder, executive editor of "Casebook: Jack the Ripper," an online database and forum for so-called "Ripperologists."

In a newly published book titled "Naming Jack the Ripper," amateur historian (and Ripper tour operator) Russell Edwards says he's certain that the DNA findings have solved a long-mysterious string of murders that terrorized the seamier streets of London starting in 1888. "Put the case to bed," he told ITV News. "We've done this."

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But the chain of evidence would never hold up in a court: It's based on fresh analysis of DNA recovered from a century-old bloodstained scarf linked to one of Jack the Ripper's victims, Catherine Eddowes. Edwards' scientific collaborator, Jari Louhelainen of Liverpool John Moores University, has linked some of the DNA from the stains to the genetic signature of Eddowes' distant relatives. Another DNA signature, purportedly attributed to semen on the scarf, was linked to relatives of Kosminski.

Ripperologists have known about the scarf, as well as Kosminski's status as a suspect, for years. The new twist has to do with the DNA tests. "There's kind of a 'CSI Effect' going on," Ryder said. "People hear 'DNA,' and they think it's 100 percent solved."

It's not solved, as Ripperologists are only too happy to point out in the Casebook forum. "I would dearly love to see a fully referenced, scientific, juried account of the testing and the associated processes," one commenter wrote. "It's intriguing, but as others have pointed out, there are so many issues even beyond the DNA. If anything, it's raising more questions, not generating answers."

The arguments over back-and-forth changes in the Wikipedia page for "Jack the Ripper" became so heated that the page has been protected from editing.

Debate over DNA

One of the reasons for the controversy has to do with the limitations of the DNA test that was used. Louhelainen could recover the genetic signature only from mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, rather than the nuclear DNA that serves as a unique identifier.

MtDNA is passed down from a mother to her children, and many people can share the same mtDNA signature. The signature linked to Kosminski, T1a1, is a relatively common subtype. Thus, the determination doesn't mean much unless the signature can be narrowed down to a rarer subtype, or unless additional evidence can be brought to bear (as was the case for identifying the remains of Russia's Czar Nicholas II and his family).

A larger question has to do with the scarf's history: It's been open to contamination for decades, and it's not even clear that it was really left behind by Eddowes (or her killer) after the 1888 murder. "In the community of so-called experts, it's not really considered evidence," Ryder said.

Another 'Case Closed' moment?

Then there's the fact that Kosminski doesn't match up all that well with descriptions of the killer by contemporary witnesses. He was just 23 years old and reportedly slight of build. In contrast, witnesses have described a heavier-built, somewhat older man as skulking around the scenes of the crimes.

Kosminski has long been on the list of usual Ripper suspects, thanks largely to references to a "Kosminski' in the writings of investigators, but many modern-day Ripperologists are doubtful he could have pulled off one of history's most infamous strings of serial killings. "If it actually was Kosminski, this guy was a borderline raving lunatic," Ryder said. "This was not a criminal mastermind by any means."

Ryder said the latest claims were reminiscent of another "Case Closed" moment in the tale of Jack the Ripper — the time in 2002 when crime novelist Patricia Cornwell declared that Victorian-era painter Walter Sickert was the killer, based in part on mtDNA analysis of a licked stamp.

Since then, a string of other suspects (including a woman dubbed "Jackie the Ripper") have had their time in the historical spotlight. This just happens to be Aaron Kosminski's turn. "Until I see anything more than what I've seen so far, it's like the Patricia Cornwell case," Ryder said.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/scien...ripped-n198506


September 7, 2014

Aaron Kosminski: Why No Jury Would Convict Him Of Jack The Ripper Crimes

http://www.inquisitr.com/1460634/aar...7lsQMPGLE6F.99