Jack the Ripper was an unknown serial killer active in the impoverished Whitechapel district of London in 1888. Throughout his life, police failed to arrest him or identify him.
Recently, a team of expert criminologists, forensic scientists, and historians have claimed that they have finally identified the ripper, using advanced DNA technology and never-before-seen archival material.
As per the experts, a shawl found by the body of Catherine Eddowes that contains ‘forensic stains’ has been used to identify the killer as Aaron Kosminski, a 23-year-old barber from Poland. The analysis also suggests the killer had brown eyes and hair, a description that Kosminski fit. Catherine Eddowes was one of the women Jack the Ripper had brutally killed.
The Jewish immigrant has long been linked with the crimes, but this is the first piece of forensic evidence that gives any sort of clear proof as to the killer’s identity. The Journal of Forensic Sciences published the study, which used DNA from a living relative of Kosminski. Kosminksi would go on to be put in an asylum following the alleged murders, where he died young.
In 1888 however when Whitechapel was plagued with economic neglect and was an overcrowded slum riddled with poverty. This would prove to be the perfect area for Jack the Ripper to carry out his murders.
While Jack the Ripper was linked with many murders in the Whitechapel area, it is widely believed that there are five murders of a similar nature that can be credited without a doubt to the serial killer.
Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly are all believed to have been Jack the Ripper’s victims. The five women were all brutally murdered. Incisions to the throat and abdomen were something of a trademark for Jack the Ripper, leaving no doubts as to why he quickly spread fear and panic throughout the area.
Police worked hard to identify the killer but to no avail. The case of Jack the Ripper was particularly notable as it was the first of its kind in the sense that it created a media frenzy. The press was quick to jump on the story of the killer, which played a huge role in spreading fear and panic over the murders.
