A fascinating alternative view of the solution to the 120-year old mystery of the identity of Jack the Ripper.
Could the butcher of Whitechapel have been a woman?
17 January 2009
By Cindy Adams:
Unsolved for over 120 years, the infamous Ripper murders and Jack the Ripper remain an elusive, curious mystery.
The killer roamed the Whitechapel area of London brutally massacring his first victim in 1888 using what appeared to be surgical knives.
The Ripper's victims were streetwalkers who were easy prey for the mutilator.
In total, Jack claimed five women's lives, cutting their throats from ear to ear. One victim had her tongue torn out, while another was cut through the breast allowing the Ripper to remover her heart and other vital organs. Four of the women were disemboweled.
Mary Kelly was butchered in her bed with her face left unrecognizable from the Ripper's attack.
The crimes were never solved and rumors have implicated individuals such as Prince Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria and the famous author, Lewis Carroll, who wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
DNA suggests Jack the Ripper was not any of the men suspected, but rather, may have been a woman.
In fact, some are now dubbing the killer, Jill the Ripper.
Mary Pearcey, murdered her lover's wife and was hanged for the crime in 1890, may have been "Jill the Ripper."
In 2006, an Australian scientist, Ian Findley used swabs from letters allegedly sent to London police from the Ripper to attempt to build a DNA profile of the killer.
Findlay, a professor of molecular and forensic diagnostics, claims to have developed a process by which he could extract DNA up to 160 years old from a strand of hair or single cell.
Although the results were "inconclusive" and not forensically reliable, a partial DNA profile was constructed.
Mary Pearcey became a
suspect after murdering
her lover's wife with a
similar modus operandi
as the Ripper.
This led Findlay to believe the Ripper may be female.
In fact, one female was suspected during the Ripper investigations.
Mary Pearcey was convicted and hanged in 1890.
Jack the Ripper really was?
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