After all these years, Jack the Ripper has been unmasked by DNA

After all these years, Jack the Ripper has been unmasked by DNA

Researchers are making breakthroughs every year both in the theoretics of genetic science and the practical techniques involved in employing it. The ID would not have been possible with the best methods employed just five years ago.

The evidence clearly points to Aaron Kosminski, who had been one of the primary suspects at the time of the murders. "Kosminski was 23 when the murders took place, and living with his two brothers and a sister in Greenfield Street, just 200 yards from where the third victim, Elizabeth Stride, was killed. Police did not have enough evidence to convict Kosminski, despite identification by a witness, but kept him under 24-hour surveillance until he was committed to mental asylums for the rest of his life."

An internal report written in 1894 by Melville Macnaghten, the Assistant Chief Constable of the London Metropolitan Police Service, names a Polish Jew called 'Kosminski' (without a forename) as a suspect. Macnaghten stated that 'Kosminski had a great hatred of women, especially of the prostitute class, & had strong homicidal tendencies.'"


Sir Robert Anderson, assistant police commissioner during the Ripper murders, wrote in his memoirs, "The Lighter Side of My Official Life": "The only person who had ever had a good view of the murderer unhesitatingly identified the suspect the instant he was confronted with him; but he refused to give evidence against him." He noted that that the Ripper was a 'low-class Polish Jew.' The man was later identified by the name "Kosminski" when Chief Inspector Donald Swanson read Anderson's memoirs. Swanson's observations also offered further clarification of the reasons why the witness would not testify against the assailant.

Sources

Jack-the-Ripper.org

Wikipedia