In the autumn of 1888, a serial killer known as Jack the Ripper stalked the East End of London. He was never identified, but hundreds of people were accused. Some were known to the authorities at the time, and others were named by later researchers. The truth about them, and the reasons why they came under suspicion, is often lost in a plethora of opinions and misinformation. For the first time, this book presents the evidence against 333 suspects. They include the publican who painted his dog, the first woman sentenced to the electric chair, the writer of the Red Flag, the man with a thousand convictions, Britain’s oldest Prime Minister, and many others. People from all walks of nineteenth century life, representing many different nationalities and professions. United by a link, however tenuous, to the most famous murderer in history.
The latest research on the ultimate whodunnit by the world's leading society for Ripper studies The Whitechapel Murders of 1888 remain unsolved and hundreds of theories have been suggested as to the killer's identity. However, many of the suggestions naming the infamous Ripper remain ill-informed and ludicrous, until now. The authors of this book are all members of The Whitechapel Society, the world's largest organization for the study of Jack the Ripper. Each has spent many years researching a particular suspect and the results of their latest, cutting-edge investigations are published here for the first time. Based on indisputable facts and concrete evidence, the cases put forward in this collection allow readers to decide exactly who they believe is the man behind the myth. With each chapter discussing a separate suspect in detail, this book is the ultimate guide to one of the most famous criminal investigations in history.
An investigation into the man Scotland Yard thought (but couldn't prove) was Jack the Ripper Dozens of theories have attempted to resolve the mystery of the identity of Jack the Ripper, the world's most famous serial killer. Ripperologist Robert House contends that we may have known the answer all along. The head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department at the time of the murders thought Aaron Kozminski was guilty, but he lacked the legal proof to convict him. By exploring Kozminski's life, House builds a strong circumstantial case against him, showing not only that he had means, motive, and opportunity, but also that he fit the general profile of a serial killer as defined by the FBI today. The first book to explore the life of Aaron Kozminski, one of Scotland Yard's top suspects in the quest to identify Jack the Ripper Combines historical research and contemporary criminal profiling techniques to solve one of the most vexing criminal mysteries of all time Draws on a decade of research by the author, including trips to Poland and England to uncover Kozminski's past and details of the case Includes a Foreword by Roy Hazelwood, a former FBI profiler and pioneer of profiling sexual predators Features dozens of photographs and illustrations Building a thorough and convincing case that completes the work begun by Scotland Yard more than a century ago, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know who really committed Jack the Ripper's heinous and unforgettable crimes.
Now updated with new material that brings the killer's picture into clearer focus. In the fall of 1888, all of London was held in the grip of unspeakable terror. An elusive madman calling himself Jack the Ripper was brutally butchering women in the slums of London’s East End. Police seemed powerless to stop the killer, who delighted in taunting them and whose crimes were clearly escalating in violence from victim to victim. And then the Ripper’s violent spree seemingly ended as abruptly as it had begun. He had struck out of nowhere and then vanished from the scene. Decades passed, then fifty years, then a hundred, and the Ripper’s bloody sexual crimes became anemic and impotent fodder for puzzles, mystery weekends, crime conventions, and so-called “Ripper Walks” that end with pints of ale in the pubs of Whitechapel. But to number-one New York Times bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell, the Ripper murders are not cute little mysteries to be transformed into parlor games or movies but rather a series of terrible crimes that no one should get away with, even after death. Now Cornwell applies her trademark skills for meticulous research and scientific expertise to dig deeper into the Ripper case than any detective before her—and reveal the true identity of this fabled Victorian killer. In Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed, Cornwell combines the rigorous discipline of twenty-first century police investigation with forensic techniques undreamed of during the late Victorian era to solve one of the most infamous and difficult serial murder cases in history. Drawing on unparalleled access to original Ripper evidence, documents, and records, as well as archival, academic, and law-enforcement resources, FBI profilers, and top forensic scientists, Cornwell reveals that Jack the Ripper was none other than a respected painter of his day, an artist now collected by some of the world’s finest museums: Walter Richard Sickert. It has been said of Cornwell that no one depicts the human capability for evil better than she. Adding layer after layer of circumstantial evidence to the physical evidence discovered by modern forensic science and expert minds, Cornwell shows that Sickert, who died peacefully in his bed in 1942, at the age of 81, was not only one of Great Britain’s greatest painters but also a serial killer, a damaged diabolical man driven by megalomania and hate. She exposes Sickert as the author of the infamous Ripper letters that were written to the Metropolitan Police and the press. Her detailed analysis of his paintings shows that his art continually depicted his horrific mutilation of his victims, and her examination of this man’s birth defects, the consequent genital surgical interventions, and their effects on his upbringing present a casebook example of how a psychopathic killer is created. New information and startling revelations detailed in Portrait of a Killer include: - How a year-long battery of more than 100 DNA tests—on samples drawn by Cornwell’s forensics team in September 2001 from original Ripper letters and Sickert documents—yielded the first shadows of the 75- to 114 year-old genetic evid...
Stewart Evans is a policeman whose hobby is collecting true crime ephemera. When a second hand bookseller rang to ask him if he would be interested in a collection of letters from the Special Branch, he had no idea of the sensational revelation they would contain. One of these letters supplied an astonishing piece of infomation not contained in the decimated Scotland Yard files. The police had actually arrested and charged an American with the Ripper murders, but he escaped and disappeared in America. The Ripper murders ceased. The book reveals for the first time the identity of Jack the Ripper.
Within the pages of this book are hundreds of individuals who have at one time or another come under suspicion of being Jack the Ripper.Their involvement coming about by them having committed or attempting to commit a Ripper-style murder. Some by confessing to being Jack the Ripper while suffering from mental illness or while under the influence of alcohol. Others have been linked to Jack the Ripper by the press, the police and by contemporary and recent theorists. The killer eluded apprehension despite the best efforts of the police, who in an era before modern day fingerprinting, DNA forensics, surveillance cameras and criminal profiling, were simply out of their depth in hunting what was then a new phenomenon, but which today has become all too commonplace. "The serial killer."The investigation was hampered by a barrage of false confessions and the police faced a hostile press and an angry public clamouring for swift justice. Taunting letters using the moniker "Jack the Ripper" were reportedly sent by the killer. Hope of a successful conviction relied almost entirely upon catching the perpetrator in the act.
After 125 years of theorizing and speculation regarding the identity of Jack the Ripper, Russell Edwards is in the unique position of owning the first physical evidence relating to the crimes to have emerged since 1888. This evidence is from one of the crime scenes, and has now been rigorously examined by some of the most highly-qualified forensic scientists in the country who have ascertained its true provenance. With the help of modern forensic techniques, Russell's ground-breaking discoveries provide conclusive answers to many of the most challenging mysterious surrounding the case.
Over a century ago, a depraved killer skillfully moved through the dark and filthy slums of London's East End. Despite the increasingly watchful eyes of investigators, the serial murderer--known as "Jack the Ripper" from a signature on a piece of correspondence that has been attributed to him--was never certainly identified. R. Michael Gordon provides a comprehensive look at the crimes and the case evidence, and then discusses the life of the man he believes was the actual killer, detailing the reasons why this person may have been driven to kill. Beginning with an overview of the terror created in the East End of 1888, the book describes the five major periods of the Ripper's deadly career: early life and schooling; a step-by-step view of the murders, including the Thames Torso Murders that authorities attempted to cover up; the Ripper's American connection; a return to London where his final victims were subjected to poison; and the capture and execution of the probable--but never proven--Ripper. To most people who worked closely on the Ripper and poisoning cases, justice was finally served.
Jack the Ripper Suspect Dr. Francis Tumblety highlights the most recent groundbreaking discoveries concerning one of Scotland Yard's top Jack the Ripper suspects in the 1888 Whitechapel Murders Investigation, Dr. Francis Tumblety. Among the discoveries is over 700 pages of never-seen-before sworn testimonies revealing not only a picture of an antisocial narcissist with a single-minded lifelong drive for exploitation but also damning evidence that he may indeed have been the Whitechapel fiend.
Fully updated and revised, Donald Rumbelow’s classic work is the ultimate examination of the facts, theories, fictions and fascinations surrounding the greatest whodunit in history. The Complete Jack the Ripper lays out all the evidence in the most comprehensive summary ever written about the Ripper. Rumbelow, a former London Metropolitan policeman, and an authority on crime, has subjected every theory – including those that have emerged in recent years – to the same deep scrutiny. He also examines the mythology surrounding the case and provides some fascinating insights into the portrayal of the Ripper on stage and screen and on the printed page. More seriously, he also examines the horrifying parallel crimes of the Düsseldorf Ripper and the Yorkshire Ripper in an attempt to throw further light on the atrocities of Victorian London.
