End of the mystery ?: They claim to have identified the mythical "Jack the Ripper" – 21/03/2019

They have spent more than 130 years and the mystery surrounding the figure of the mythical "Jack the Ripper" always continues. All the while, various investigators sought to reveal the identity of this murderer who, in 1888 killed and maimed at least five prostitutes In London. Now, thanks to a new DNA badysis, this question would have found an answer.

According to the study published this week by the Journal of Forensic Sciences, the author of the brutal crimes would Aaron Kosminski, a Jewish pole that had arrived in the British capital to devote itself to the hairdresser trade and was on the list of London metropolitan police suspects.

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How was this conclusion reached? Analysis of mitochondrial DNAIt was extracted from the blood and sperm stains found in the shawl found near the body of Catherine Eddowes, the fourth victim of the murderer.

According to the study conducted by scientists Jari Louhelainen and David Miller, this DNA is from the same group as a living parent from Kosminski. In addition, the sperm would have belonged to a man with brown eyes and brown hair, a description that coincides with the purpose.

The London Metropolitan Police investigated about 300 suspects, including the one indicated again Kosminski. Born in the town of Klodawa, he arrived in the British capital in 1882 with three brothers and settled in Greenfield Street, less than 200 meters from the place where the body was found in the throat by Elizabeth Stride, third victim the murderer.

The guilt of Kosminski, who was 23 years old at the time of the murders, could not be proven by the police, who had held him for two years. According to the researchers, the young man was schizophrenic and had been hospitalized in a psychiatric center, where he died at the age of 53.

However, new research has generated skepticism in the scientific community. Hansi Weissensteiner, a researcher at the University of Medicine Innsbruck (Austria), said that the badysis of mitochondrial DNA can be reliable only to rule out the relationship between two people and so exclude a suspect, but not to identify a person. concrete

Among several points, the question of lack of evidence that this shawl was found specifically at the scene of the crime. And, if that were the case, it could have been contaminated by the various people who have handled it over the years.

In his defense, the authors of the study claim that the shawl – silk and floral motifs – belonged to the "Jack the Ripper" and not to his victim, a woman with modest resources.

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The crimes took place in London's Whitechapel neighborhood. Between August 31 and November 9, 1888, the bodies of five prostitutes were found. The victims had similar characteristics: cut in the throat, mutilation of the bads and the abdomen and disfigurement of the face.

During the investigation, the police reportedly received at least three letters from the murderer in which she allegedly did not care about the agents and promised more crimes. One of the missives bore the signature of "Jack the Ripper", and since then, he has started calling it so.