The Mists Part

[poliphilo]

So Jack the Ripper wasn't a man in an opera cloak after all- not royalty, not the Queen's gynaecologist, not Walter Sickert, not any sort of criminal mastermind-  just a man so obscure he didn't even leave a photograph behind. His name was Aaron Kosminski, a misogynist and compulsive onanist who heard voices and used to eat from the gutter because of his fear of prepared food. He spent most of his adult life in asylums and died- of gangrene- in 1919.

Is anyone surprised?

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Not particularly, although I did rather fancy the Jill the Ripper theory myself.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that anyone still believes a case which is over 100 years old is capable of being 'solved'. Here are just a few sensible-sounding notes of scepticism.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Jill the Ripper? No, I was never drawn to that idea. Women can be serial killers- but I can't think of a single example of a woman killing other women in the Ripper's fetishistic style.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It comes down to two things.

1. Are the guys who've "solved" the case telling the truth?

2. Is the science they rely on valid?

Lyndsay Faye pours a lot of scorn but that's all. She hasn't refuted or disproved anything they say.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

To me it does seem odd that the Ripper is non British. This is just the sort of "evidence" UKIP will seize upon.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know, but I still like the idea. I don't know of another female serial killer (and my knowledge is pretty extensive) that went in for that sort of butchery. Most of them (putting Aileen Woornos aside) tend to go for the less bloody methods.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Whitechapel had a high population of immigrants at the time. I don't see anything odd in one of them turning out to be the killer.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

No doubt people will want to repeat the experiment.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes.

And Wuornos killed men.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Well, the DNA evidence from the shawl is, at best, circumstantial. If the shawl really was from a Ripper victim, and she was a prostitute, then semen on her shawl may have been from one of her customers and not from the killer. The shawl may (assuming it is genuine and not, like many other relics both historical and religious, of dubious provenance) be further evidence to incriminate Kosminski, but it's a long way from absolute proof.

So it's rather a non-story really and, considering the Daily Mail's track record on being anti-immigration and anti-Semitic, it fits rather too neatly into their "all immigrants are evil" mindset and therefore not exactly to be trusted.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I'm still rather doubtful, to be honest. Yeah, I heard the story on the Beeb, but as a friend said, the chain of custody is a little weird.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If the DNA evidence stands up we've got Eddowes blood and Kosminski's semen on the same shawl. I think that's more than circumstantial. Also we know that Kosminski was a prime suspect.

I think the Mail's involvement is a red herring. They bagged the exclusive but they didn't originate the story.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's weird, but life often is.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

DNA evidence can't prove anything other than that a particular person had contact with a particular object, so it can never be more than circumstantial. The why and when and how have to be proved by other means. In this case, contamination of the evidence, along with itsage, leads even DNA evidence to be suspect.

I do agree, however, that Kominski is a more plausible murderer than many that have been suggested.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Bah. All we actually know is that he (or one of his brothers, who lived with him) had an, erm, episode on the shawl. That's pretty thin gruel.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A shawl that is also stained with the blood of one of the Ripper's victims?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Kosminski is exactly the sort of person one would be looking for in a case like this. And apparently the police (or some of them) were sure he was the perp; they just couldn't prove it.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, so? The semen may have been on the shawl earlier.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Bah again. I was the anonymous commenter who said the semen could have already been on the shawl.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, sure, but it still places Eddowes and Kominski in close proximity.

Kominski was always a suspect- and a very plausible one. The police thought he was the killer. We now have his semen on a shawl that's stained with the blood of one of the victims. Yes, there may be an entirely innocent explanation but...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guessed :)

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

Stupid. 1st, that's not how science works. A savvy child could tell you that DNA must be preserved. 2nd, why wasn't this shawl in the police report?
Where 's the peer review?
Where's the proof?