A historian claims to have unearthed conclusive evidence identifying Jack the Ripper, the alleged serial killer whose unsolved crimes have intrigued investigators and enthusiasts for over a hundred years.
Russell Edwards, a historian, asserts that through DNA evidence, Jack the Ripper’s identity is actually Aaron Kosminski, a prime suspect for Scotland Yard at the time. Edwards has made a categorical declaration regarding this revelation.
The infamous killer is believed to have roamed the Whitechapel district of London’s East End during the late Victorian era, a period marked by an influx of Irish and Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution and famine.
The surge of migrants led to severe overcrowding and poverty in this deteriorating area of London, with violence, theft, and prostitution becoming rampant for those navigating the streets.
Whitechapel turned into Jack the Ripper’s hunting ground, and prostitutes became his targets, with five women murdered in the latter part of 1888 recognized as his ‘canonical victims’.
Their names were Elizabeth Stride, Mary Jane Kelly, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, and Catherine Eddowes.
Jack the Ripper was notorious for targeting sex workers and was dubbed by the press for his gruesome acts of mutilation, disembowelment, and often organ removal from his victims.
These five victims were discovered within months of each other, yet the police and the public feared that the anonymous killer might have continued his dreadful acts for years. An additional six bodies were discovered over the subsequent three years, but concrete evidence was lacking.
What sets Edwards’ recent claim about Jack the Ripper’s identity apart from previous ones is the use of DNA evidence. In 2007, Edwards acquired a shawl that belonged to Catherine Eddowes, found at her murder scene.
After years of examination, Edwards identified blood from Eddowes and further DNA, then tested a descendant of Kosminski’s brother to determine if Victorian detectives were on the right track.
Upon discovering a mitochondrial DNA match with a historical suspect, Edwards firmly stated his conclusions. “Oh, without a doubt, 100% it’s him,” he told NewsNation.
Kosminski, a barber in Whitechapel, sought refuge in England from Poland but ultimately succumbed to mental illness, dying in an asylum with schizophrenia in 1919.
Edwards expressed surprise at the police’s disinterest in the shawl, which had remained unused for years until he acquired it.
Despite 137 years passing since the ‘canonical five’ murders, the Met Police does not appear to show much interest in his findings.
He remarked: “They’ve never knocked on the door. And when we originally did this, they certainly weren’t interested. It’s curious that they sort of just not bothered.”
Nevertheless, forensic expert Jarrett Ambeau has challenged Edwards’ claim of a ‘100%’ match, explaining to News Nation that mitochondrial DNA testing ‘doesn’t have the kind of power to identify someone individually that nuclear DNA has, or cellular DNA’.
He also noted that any DNA on the shawl would have significantly degraded over the past century, and numerous people could have come into contact with the fabric since Eddowes’ demise.