Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
We might finally know the identity of the notorious killer, Jack the Ripper, and we might even have a DNA result for reference.
Over 130 years after his gruesome murders in East London, England, the descendants of his victims are looking to unmask the identity of the serial killer popularly known as Jack the Ripper.
RELATED:
Jack the Ripper’s identity may be revealed thanks to DNA tests
Image credits: freepik (Not the actual photo)
Highlights
- A forensic study linked DNA from a crime scene shawl to Aaron Kosminski.
- Some scientists question the study’s validity, arguing that genetic sequences were not fully disclosed.
- Victims' descendants are calling for Britain’s High Court to officially identify the killer.
The infamous serial killer who terrorized Victorian Era London women back in the day has primarily been referred to as simply “Jack the Ripper” up until now. Historian Russell Edwards claims that he has identified Jack the Ripper as Aaron Kosminski, one of the prime suspects for Jack the Ripper, through a DNA test done on a shawl possibly belonging to one of his victims from over a century ago.
Image credits: freepik (Not the actual photo)
Edwards explained that he purchased the shawl back in 2007 after it was marketed to be at the scene of the murder of Catherine Eddowes, on “TODAY Show Australia.” Surprisingly, the DNA found on a shawl found at the crime scene of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims, Catherine Eddowes, matches a DNA sample provided by one of Kosminski’s living relatives, according to findings published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences in 2019.
“It’s very difficult to put into words the elation I felt when I saw the 100 percent DNA match,” Edwards told The Sun in an interview published on January 31. And adds, “This brings closure and a form of justice for the descendants.” Edwards and some of the victims’ descendants are now asking Britain’s High Court to officially name Kosminski as the killer.
Great-great-great-granddaughter of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims states, “Having the real person legally named would be a form of justice”
Image credits: Wikimedia
One of Eddowes’ biological descendants Karen Miller, is waiting for further investigation to make the findings official. Speaking to Daily Mail, she outlines, “The name Jack the Ripper has become sensationalized. It has gone down in history as this famous character. It has all been about him, this iconic name, but people have forgotten about the victims who did not have justice at the time.”
Image credits: Wikimedia
“What about the real name of the person who did this? Having the real person legally named in a court, which can consider all the evidence, would be a form of justice for the victims. We have got the proof. Now, we need this inquest to legally name the killer,” Miller, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Eddowes, explains. Now the eyes are on the High Court’s decision to make Kosminski the official.
Scientists have doubts about the study results, need genetic sequences to be sure
Image credits: Wikimedia
As tangible as it sounds, some experts still have questions about the validity of the results. Walther Parsons, a forensic scientist from the Innsbruck Medical University in Austria, criticized the study for not including actual genetic sequences of the involved parties, which were instead represented by a graphic in the report, causing doubts about the reliability of the results. Parsons told Science.org in 2019 after the journal was published, “Otherwise, the reader cannot judge the result.”
Image credits: Wikimedia
Following Edwards’ initial DNA tests in 2019, molecular biologist Walther Parson and DNA researcher Hansi Weissensteiner, of the Innsbruck Medical University, expressed doubt over the shawl’s authenticity and the methods of its genetic testing.
They argued that genetic sequences from Eddowes and Kosminski’s living relatives were not included in the testing, in addition to questioning whether the shawl may have been contaminated due to the way it was stored. Kosminski’s brother’s great-great-granddaughter has since provided a genetic sample for testing.
Prime Jack the Ripper suspect Aaron Kosminski was a barber-surgeon in London
Image credits: Wikimedia
Who was Aaron Kosminski? He was a Jewish Polish immigrant who came to Whitechapel, England, back in 1881 with his brother. He became a barber once he made it to London. He was 23 at the time of the murders and was a prime suspect in the five murders which took place in 1888 but was never actually charged in the case. He then spent his life in an asylum where he was kept for his diagnosed schizophrenia until his death.
Jack the Ripper’s most notable victims include Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly in 1888, who were brutally murdered in the Whitechapel area. These women are called “canonical five” by Jack the Ripper researchers, the reason being they are most likely murdered by a single killer.
Image credits: Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels (Not the actual photo)
According to the Express, the killer needed to have anatomical knowledge in order to commit the murders. Coincidentally, an intake form from the asylum where Kosminski died in 1919 described him as a “barber-surgeon,” hinting at the anatomical knowledge needed for the gruesome nature of the Ripper’s murders, which involved slitting his victims’s throats and masterfully removing their internal organs. Despite his notorious story, the police were never able to capture him, and his identity remained locked away in the pages of history.
Netizens are stunned by DNA findings that could finally name Jack the Ripper
Image credits: Elektrikman143
Image credits: optifyy_
Image credits: jamesmacdanimal
Image credits: FreedomRinger_
Image credits: DonaldEBeaneJr
Image credits: onfire2023
Image credits: BigImpactHumans
Image credits: username000513
Image credits: harianum1
Image credits: Context2X
Image credits: destroynectar
Image credits: suayrez
Image credits: kimaforyou
Image credits: menscoach1
Image credits: pearlydewddrops
Image credits: steven91291
Poll Question
Total votes ·
Thanks! Check out the results:
Total votes ·
Newsletter
Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls
By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.
Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!
Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
Emma B 9 months ago
What total tool in the comments really thinks 'they' should sue his family line? What kind of f*****g prick do you have to be to even consider that or believe it might be successful.
TotallyNOTAFox 9 months ago
Yeah, idiots didn't seem to realise that generational guild is not a thing in modern justice systems
Load More Replies...
Roxy222uk 9 months ago
Yeah, I live in the UK, and if this had been proven or the evidence was very strong, it would be all over reputable news sources and made into documentaries. While I don't doubt the story, I shall take the 'findings' with a huge ladle of salt.
Anne Reid 9 months ago
There’s no such thing as 100% matches in DNA testing. I especially doubt any DNA on a shawl that turned up after 130 years, after being used by various people and not kept preserved in a setting where blood samples wouldn’t degrade.
Load More Replies...
Midoribird Aoi 9 months ago
You do not sue a killer's family line generations after they do a crime! They are not the ones that did the deed.
Tams21 9 months ago
“This brings closure and a form of justice for the descendants.” Closure for descendants that were born generations after the fact based on DNA from a shawl that's probably been in countless hand since then. Sorry to be the cynic but... Meh
Michael Largey 9 months ago
"Possibly" belonging to the victim? Any defense attorney would tear that apart in seconds.
El Dee 9 months ago
Nope. This is a six year old story and peer reviews have 'expressed concern' about the conclusions drawn ie this is BS..
Amelia Jade 9 months ago
Wow, BP is on a roll this morning with the tabloid journalism. I'm waiting for the next post to be about a woman who birthed an alien baby. This story and theory is years old. Nothing came of it. The DNA results were highly suspect. If this had any traction whatsoever you'd have heard a lot more about it rather than a blurb on an entertainment site 6 years after the fact.
Deborah B 9 months ago
The validity of the testing is being questioned, the shawl is 137 years old, chain of custody issues are likely, and the risk of contamination is high. In addition, the DNA match is not from a direct decendent, it's matched to "male relative of a currently living person" - that could mean a suspect pool of any number of men who weren't considered suspects at the time, especially if there's any chance of misattributed paternity in the intervening generations. Also, victims were reported to work as prostitutes - DNA from a man on the clothing of a prostitute could easily be explained by him being one of her clients. I would like to know how many other DNA samples were found on the shawl, and whether any were sequenced and found to be from other men who could equally reasonably be considered suspects. I'd also like to know if they matched any DNA to the decendents of the victim, to prove that was Eddowes' shawl in the first place. There's a lot of gaps before it's conclusive.
marianne eliza 9 months ago (edited)
Seems like a solid suspect, but it would fall apart in court. She was a prostitute. There must have been dozens of DNA samples on that shawl.
Julia H 9 months ago
I agree. While I didn't bother to read the article, pretty sure the suspect was a barber. Back then barbers performed minor surgeries. Although the date doesn't align with that particular fact
Load More Replies...
Donna Litchfield 9 months ago
Kosminski or Kominski? I lose faith in an article when the spelling of a name can't be kept straight.
T'Mar of Vulcan 9 months ago
The provenance of the shawl has not been proven, so any so-called evidence based on it means nothing.
Lilli Belisle 9 months ago
They weren't hookers or prostitutes, some were widows who had to work low wage jobs and lived in the poorest neighborhoods.
Load More Replies...
Starfish63 9 months ago
I recommend reading 'The Five' by Hallie Rubenhold. It gives the women personalities and lives beyond their victim status.
Je souhaite 9 months ago
There were actually 11 murders so we still don't know about all the victims lives and personalities also until the depiction in From Hell there is little evidence that the Five even knew each other
Load More Replies... CD Mills 9 months ago
I doubt this 'conclusion' of the identity. Someone on Fark pointed out that the shawl was never identified or taken as evidence from the woman they are attributing it came from. We have a few Farkers who are all into Jack the Ripper and those who have been in the thread are all calling BS due to the shawl being a mystery that they can't actually tie to that victim. I personally don't buy it at all but if you want to argue about it go to Fark and argue with them, I only care enough to state my opinion, I don't care enough one way or the other to argue about it.
Emmie Webb 9 months ago
Russell Edwards is a known prankster. He lied about finding Keith Bennett. Created an entire Hoax. And you guys are just randomly posting this nonsense as fact.
Beak Hookage 9 months ago
If I had a dollar for every article I've read with a misleading headline saying they have definitely identified Jack the Ripper, only to open with a whole lot of "maybes" and "might haves" I'd have paid off my house by now.
Lee Gilliland 9 months ago
The DNA was on a scarf found at the site of one of the murders. It has no actual provenance besides oral. And it was kept by a member of the police force, not by the police. So I'm OK with this being a possibility, but dies not consist of proof.
Binny Tutera 9 months ago
It might be strong evidence since a leading suspect was identified through the DNA. Perhaps more testing is needed, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.
Eva Sawyer 8 months ago
Honestly? The case is never going to be conclusively solved short of finding a journal or something that admits to the crimes. The shawl has issues, both storage/chain of custody - plus she was known to prostitute herself. A man's DNA doesn't prove that he killed her, only that at some point he had contact with her.
Nancie Jeanne 9 months ago
This reminds me of the man who said he found a diary or something from Jack the ripper and wrote a book. It was fake. Someone bought a shawl "marketed" as belonging to a victim? Sure
Nancie Jeanne 9 months ago
So someone bought a shawl "marketed" to be from a victim? Like the dude who "found" a diary a few years ago. Sure.
AnSi Bae 9 months ago
I'm really thorn about in the future using DNA sites to identify murderers. I get closure for the families are important and general morbid curiosity would be the bigger part of it. But if you found out your dead grandfather was the Zodiak killer or somebody horrible. What happens afterwards? You live with the stigma and everybody judge you for what an ancestor did? Shunned by society and hated for something you are not responsible for? The victims descendents sue your family? It's a can of worms I don't know what you should do with. Opinions?
SpirklePlatz 9 months ago
Yes to most of the comments - and also, let's stop sensationalizing killers. Killers =/= heroes.
Gozer LeGozerian 9 months ago
This story is old and was conveniently released the same time as the historian had a book coming out. And DNA on a shawl doesn't prove anything. He could've been a customer of Eddowe's. Too many doubts to this story to be honest.
Hmmm hmmmm 9 months ago
Lovung the guy who commented saying that jack the ripper was a baby and still alive!
Lara Verne 9 months ago
Should sue his entire family line? That's pretty unhinged, don't you think?
🇫🇮 Goth Nurse 🇫🇮 9 months ago
WHAT there is a Finnish geneticist who did that in 2014, what's going on??
Roger Haywood 9 months ago
I still think it was American serial killer H.H. Holmes. His dissapearance in America co insides with the Ripper killings. May be a coincidence, I admit, but he's still my number 1 suspect.
Chewie Baron 9 months ago
Can somebody tell Patricia Cornwall please? As for some reason only known to her and the goblins who torment her, she thinks that the killer was the artist Walter Sickert. He was never even a suspect in the first place.
Emma B 9 months ago
What total tool in the comments really thinks 'they' should sue his family line? What kind of f*****g prick do you have to be to even consider that or believe it might be successful.
TotallyNOTAFox 9 months ago
Yeah, idiots didn't seem to realise that generational guild is not a thing in modern justice systems
Load More Replies... Roxy222uk 9 months ago
Yeah, I live in the UK, and if this had been proven or the evidence was very strong, it would be all over reputable news sources and made into documentaries. While I don't doubt the story, I shall take the 'findings' with a huge ladle of salt.
Anne Reid 9 months ago
There’s no such thing as 100% matches in DNA testing. I especially doubt any DNA on a shawl that turned up after 130 years, after being used by various people and not kept preserved in a setting where blood samples wouldn’t degrade.
Load More Replies... Midoribird Aoi 9 months ago
You do not sue a killer's family line generations after they do a crime! They are not the ones that did the deed.
Tams21 9 months ago
“This brings closure and a form of justice for the descendants.” Closure for descendants that were born generations after the fact based on DNA from a shawl that's probably been in countless hand since then. Sorry to be the cynic but... Meh
Michael Largey 9 months ago
"Possibly" belonging to the victim? Any defense attorney would tear that apart in seconds.
El Dee 9 months ago
Nope. This is a six year old story and peer reviews have 'expressed concern' about the conclusions drawn ie this is BS..
Amelia Jade 9 months ago
Wow, BP is on a roll this morning with the tabloid journalism. I'm waiting for the next post to be about a woman who birthed an alien baby. This story and theory is years old. Nothing came of it. The DNA results were highly suspect. If this had any traction whatsoever you'd have heard a lot more about it rather than a blurb on an entertainment site 6 years after the fact.
Deborah B 9 months ago
The validity of the testing is being questioned, the shawl is 137 years old, chain of custody issues are likely, and the risk of contamination is high. In addition, the DNA match is not from a direct decendent, it's matched to "male relative of a currently living person" - that could mean a suspect pool of any number of men who weren't considered suspects at the time, especially if there's any chance of misattributed paternity in the intervening generations. Also, victims were reported to work as prostitutes - DNA from a man on the clothing of a prostitute could easily be explained by him being one of her clients. I would like to know how many other DNA samples were found on the shawl, and whether any were sequenced and found to be from other men who could equally reasonably be considered suspects. I'd also like to know if they matched any DNA to the decendents of the victim, to prove that was Eddowes' shawl in the first place. There's a lot of gaps before it's conclusive.
marianne eliza 9 months ago (edited)
Seems like a solid suspect, but it would fall apart in court. She was a prostitute. There must have been dozens of DNA samples on that shawl.
Julia H 9 months ago
I agree. While I didn't bother to read the article, pretty sure the suspect was a barber. Back then barbers performed minor surgeries. Although the date doesn't align with that particular fact
Load More Replies... Donna Litchfield 9 months ago
Kosminski or Kominski? I lose faith in an article when the spelling of a name can't be kept straight.
T'Mar of Vulcan 9 months ago
The provenance of the shawl has not been proven, so any so-called evidence based on it means nothing.
Lilli Belisle 9 months ago
They weren't hookers or prostitutes, some were widows who had to work low wage jobs and lived in the poorest neighborhoods.
Load More Replies... Starfish63 9 months ago
I recommend reading 'The Five' by Hallie Rubenhold. It gives the women personalities and lives beyond their victim status.
Je souhaite 9 months ago
There were actually 11 murders so we still don't know about all the victims lives and personalities also until the depiction in From Hell there is little evidence that the Five even knew each other
Load More Replies... CD Mills 9 months ago
I doubt this 'conclusion' of the identity. Someone on Fark pointed out that the shawl was never identified or taken as evidence from the woman they are attributing it came from. We have a few Farkers who are all into Jack the Ripper and those who have been in the thread are all calling BS due to the shawl being a mystery that they can't actually tie to that victim. I personally don't buy it at all but if you want to argue about it go to Fark and argue with them, I only care enough to state my opinion, I don't care enough one way or the other to argue about it.
Emmie Webb 9 months ago
Russell Edwards is a known prankster. He lied about finding Keith Bennett. Created an entire Hoax. And you guys are just randomly posting this nonsense as fact.
Beak Hookage 9 months ago
If I had a dollar for every article I've read with a misleading headline saying they have definitely identified Jack the Ripper, only to open with a whole lot of "maybes" and "might haves" I'd have paid off my house by now.
Lee Gilliland 9 months ago
The DNA was on a scarf found at the site of one of the murders. It has no actual provenance besides oral. And it was kept by a member of the police force, not by the police. So I'm OK with this being a possibility, but dies not consist of proof.
Binny Tutera 9 months ago
It might be strong evidence since a leading suspect was identified through the DNA. Perhaps more testing is needed, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.
Eva Sawyer 8 months ago
Honestly? The case is never going to be conclusively solved short of finding a journal or something that admits to the crimes. The shawl has issues, both storage/chain of custody - plus she was known to prostitute herself. A man's DNA doesn't prove that he killed her, only that at some point he had contact with her.
Nancie Jeanne 9 months ago
This reminds me of the man who said he found a diary or something from Jack the ripper and wrote a book. It was fake. Someone bought a shawl "marketed" as belonging to a victim? Sure
Nancie Jeanne 9 months ago
So someone bought a shawl "marketed" to be from a victim? Like the dude who "found" a diary a few years ago. Sure.
AnSi Bae 9 months ago
I'm really thorn about in the future using DNA sites to identify murderers. I get closure for the families are important and general morbid curiosity would be the bigger part of it. But if you found out your dead grandfather was the Zodiak killer or somebody horrible. What happens afterwards? You live with the stigma and everybody judge you for what an ancestor did? Shunned by society and hated for something you are not responsible for? The victims descendents sue your family? It's a can of worms I don't know what you should do with. Opinions?
SpirklePlatz 9 months ago
Yes to most of the comments - and also, let's stop sensationalizing killers. Killers =/= heroes.
Gozer LeGozerian 9 months ago
This story is old and was conveniently released the same time as the historian had a book coming out. And DNA on a shawl doesn't prove anything. He could've been a customer of Eddowe's. Too many doubts to this story to be honest.
Hmmm hmmmm 9 months ago
Lovung the guy who commented saying that jack the ripper was a baby and still alive!
Lara Verne 9 months ago
Should sue his entire family line? That's pretty unhinged, don't you think?
🇫🇮 Goth Nurse 🇫🇮 9 months ago
WHAT there is a Finnish geneticist who did that in 2014, what's going on??
Roger Haywood 9 months ago
I still think it was American serial killer H.H. Holmes. His dissapearance in America co insides with the Ripper killings. May be a coincidence, I admit, but he's still my number 1 suspect.
Chewie Baron 9 months ago
Can somebody tell Patricia Cornwall please? As for some reason only known to her and the goblins who torment her, she thinks that the killer was the artist Walter Sickert. He was never even a suspect in the first place.
You May Like
Related on Bored Panda
23
85