Jack the Ripper

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Families of Jack the Ripper Victims Demand 'Form of Justice'

After researcher names Polish barber as the serial killer, victims' relatives ask for a new inquest

(Newser) - Descendants of victims of the infamous "Jack the Ripper," the serial killer who terrorized London's East End and is tied to about a dozen murders in the late 1880s and early 1890s, are demanding a new inquiry be opened after DNA evidence has pointed to a not-so-new...

'Most Advanced' Study on Jack the Ripper Is Ripped Apart

Experts throw cold water on new study that claimed to use DNA to unmask him

(Newser) - It's an intriguing assertion, and one that grabbed headlines at sites like ABC News and NBC News —that more than a century after Jack the Ripper terrorized London, the serial killer had possibly been unmasked. Too bad it's bogus, at least according to a slew of experts....

A Modern 'Jack the Ripper' Is Executed

China's Gao Chengyong killed at least 11 in 14 years

(Newser) - China's " Jack the Ripper " is no more. Gao Chengyong, convicted of the rapes and murders of 10 women and an 8-year-old girl in northwest China between 1988 and 2002, was executed Thursday, CNN reports via state media . Sentenced to death last March, the 54-year-old was nabbed in...

Forensic Linguist Solves a Jack the Ripper Mystery

Confirms 2 iconic early letters were written by same person

(Newser) - It's a Jack the Ripper mystery solved. Unfortunately that's "a" mystery, not "the" mystery. A forensic linguist with the UK's University of Manchester says that after learning no forensic linguistic analysis had been carried out on any of the letters purportedly written by the infamous...

Was Jack the Ripper a Wealthy Cotton Merchant?

New evidence suggests a tell-all diary is authentic

(Newser) - In 1992, a 9,000-word diary was found in the floorboards of a home in England containing a detailed confession to murders tied to Jack the Ripper, the serial killer who terrorized London for 10 weeks in 1888. It ended thusly: "I give my name that all know of...

Roadblock in Solving Mystery of Jack the Ripper's Last Victim

Patricia Cornwell engaged the experts, but didn't get a great answer

(Newser) - Over about 10 weeks in 1888, Jack the Ripper is said to have killed five women, the last of which was Mary Jane Kelly. But as the New Historian reports, some doubt was cast on the latter fact in 2015 with the publication of a book asserting that Mary Jane...

28 Years After He First Struck, China's 'Jack the Ripper' Found

Gao Chengyong, 52, confessed to 11 murders, say police

(Newser) - The case of Jack the Ripper may have been solved—the Chinese version, that is. A serial killer who first struck in 1988 and is believed to have raped and killed 11 women and mutilated a number of them has been apprehended and confessed, state-run media report by way of...

Teacher Says He Knows Jack the Ripper's Identity

He claims a renowned, opium-addicted poet was responsible for the slayings

(Newser) - Did life imitate art in the case of Jack the Ripper? An Australian English teacher, who claims to have solved the 127-year-old mystery, certainly thinks so, the New York Daily News reports. Richard Patterson believes Jack the Ripper, who killed five London prostitutes over 10 weeks in 1888, was actually...

Director Says He's Solved Mystery of Jack the Ripper

'I honestly think I've nailed the horrible f---er'

(Newser) - It may have taken 15 years and an 800-page tome set to be published next week, but UK writer and director Bruce Robinson thinks he's finally cracked the mystery of Jack the Ripper. "I honestly think I've nailed the horrible f---er," he tells the Telegraph . Robinson...

Scientists: Jack the Ripper ID Was Based on Error

They cite 'error of nomenclature'

(Newser) - Last month brought the news that Jack the Ripper had been identified , at least according to an amateur detective who claimed in a new book that DNA evidence from a blood-soaked shawl found near one of the victims pointed to a Polish immigrant named Aaron Kosminski. But Russell Edwards' claim...

Author: DNA Test Pegs Jack the Ripper

Polish Jew Aaron Kosminski was the killer, author says

(Newser) - An amateur detective has written a new book that claims to reveal the real Jack the Ripper based on DNA evidence from a blood-soaked shawl found by one of the victims. Russell Edwards, author of Naming Jack the Ripper, writes in the Daily Mail that he bought the shawl at...

There Is No Jack the Ripper: Detective
 There Is No 
 Jack the Ripper: 
 Detective 
11-year investigation
Sep 25, 2013 9:16 AM CDT

There Is No Jack the Ripper: Detective

Says reporter invented Ripper, but German sailor to blame for some murders

(Newser) - Trevor Marriott, a former Bedfordshire detective, has been investigating the Jack the Ripper murders for 11 years—and he's come to the conclusion that the Ripper doesn't exist, or at least not as he's traditionally portrayed. Though Jack was supposedly responsible for five grisly murders, Marriott has...

Experts Point to New Suspect as Jack the Ripper

Say he was lowly cart driver Charles Cross

(Newser) - The last time we checked in on the identity of Jack the Ripper, he was a woman . The latest theory, as reported by the Telegraph , restores his gender to male but points the finger at a new suspect: a cart driver. Ripper experts Christer Holmgren and Edward Stow have IDed...

New Theory: Jack the Ripper Was a Woman


 New Theory: 
 Jack the Ripper 
 Was a Woman 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
May 13, 2012 9:58 AM CDT

New Theory: Jack the Ripper Was a Woman

New book claims doctor's wife did the dirty deeds

(Newser) - The sadistic killer who struck London in 1888, killing five prostitutes over a 10-week span may have been ... a woman? A new book (titled the says-it-all Jack the Ripper: The Hand of a Woman) puts forth a new theory: That Jack the Ripper was indeed a female, specifically one named...

Is This Jack the Ripper?
 Is This Jack the Ripper? 
Aug 31, 2011 5:50 AM CDT

Is This Jack the Ripper?

Detective creates composite photo of German suspect

(Newser) - It's more than a century too late to show it to witnesses, but the first photo of a prime Jack the Ripper suspect has emerged. Trevor Marriott, a British homicide detective who went on the trail of the Ripper after retiring, created the composite photo from descriptions of German...

Investigator Fights to Reveal Secret Jack the Ripper Files

But Scotland Yard is determined to keep them under wraps

(Newser) - A former police detective believes that the identity of Jack the Ripper could finally be uncovered if four thick Special Branch ledgers are released uncensored, but for three years, the Metropolitan Police have been fighting to keep that from happening. Trevor Marriott took Scotland Yard to a tribunal last week...

Crossbow Killer: I've No Time for Human Race

He gets life for killing women

(Newser) - A British cannibal killer who imagines himself some kind of resurrected Jack the Ripper death lord has been sentenced to life in prison for killing as many as six young women, at least one by firing a crossbow plug into her head as she tried to flee his Bradford home....

'Tool Kit' Found Near Hookers' Remains

Ripper scholar calls himself a 'cannibal'

(Newser) - Forensics experts are examining a suitcase filled with tools found near the suspected remains of murdered hookers linked to a British "Jack the Ripper" scholar. Stephen Griffiths, 40, who dubbed himself the ''Crossbow Cannibal" last week in court, has been charged with the dismemberment murder of 3 prostitutes in...

'Ripper' Scholar Charged With 3 Murders

Stephen Griffiths in court for hooker killings

(Newser) - A criminology student suspected in the disappearance of 3 prostitutes has been formally charged with their dismemberment murder and will appear in court in Bradford, England, today. Stephen Griffiths—described as a "lizard-loving loner" by neighbors—was often seen strolling around the red-light district he lived in wearing a...

Jack the Ripper Scholar Linked to Hooker Killings

Body parts found in another ripper's nabe

(Newser) - A Yorkshire university researcher who boasted of being an expert on Jack the Ripper is being held for questioning in the murder of three prostitutes. Stephen Griffiths, 40, is a post-graduate student studying criminal justice, specializing in homicide. He was picked up by police shortly after parts of one woman...

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