After DNA evidence revealed that the killer was a Polish barber, a descendant of Jack The Ripper’s victim demanded a re-inquest.
Since 1888, the true identity of Jack the Ripper has remained a mystery. His grisly murders terrorized the slums in Whitechapel, east London, in 1888.
The suspects ranged from royals and prime ministers to bootmakers.
Russell Edwards, a Jack the Ripper detective, claimed that in 2014, after extracted DNA from a scarf found at the scene of a murder, the killer was Aaron Kosminski. Kosminski is a Polish emigrant who worked as barber.
According to the story, the shawl was found at the scene of Catherine Eddowes’ murder on September 30,1888.
At Edwards’ request, Jari Louhelainen – a senior lecturer from Liverpool John Moores University – isolated seven small DNA segments from the bloodstains on Edwards’ shawl.
The DNA was matched to Karen Miller’s DNA, who is a direct descendant from Eddowes. This confirmed that her blood had been on the shawl.
The first test resulted in a 99.2% matching. We tested the second DNA strand because DNA has two complementary strands. The result was a 100% match. Louhelainen said to ‘s Liverpool Echo.
The DNA of semen stains found on the garment was matched to a descendant Kosminski.
Edwards demanded that an inquest be held into the murder, claiming the DNA evidence justified it.
Miller supported the call in a interview published by the Daily Mail on Monday.
The name Jack the Ripper is now a sensation. She told the newspaper that it has become a famous character. People have forgotten the victims who were not given justice. We need the inquest now to identify the killer legally.
Miller said: “To have the real person named legally in a court that can take into account all of the evidence, would be justice for the victims.”
The Daily Mail reported that Kosminski’s descendants also support the inquest. According to the newspaper, Kosminski’s great-great-great-niece Amanda Poulos said: “I’m more than happy to finally establish what really happened.”
Edwards’ findings have been questioned by some.
The claims made by the research have not been independently verified, nor can the methodology be scrutinized.
According to law, the Attorney General is responsible for approving a second inquest.
Michael Ellis, the then Attorney General, denied the request two years ago on the grounds that there wasn’t enough new evidence.
Miller stated on Monday that the time had come to reopen this case.
She added, “It would be a great relief to me, my family and many others to have this crime finally solved.”
Kosminski, born on September 11, 1865 in Klodawa, central Poland.
In the early 1880s, his family fled the anti-Jewish pogroms in imperial Russia and immigrated to East London. He lived near the murder sites.
Some reports claim that he was brought in by police for identification by a witness, who had seen him together with one of his victims.
The witness, despite a positive identity, refused to provide any incriminating evidence. This left the police with no choice but to release Kosminski.
In 1889 he entered a workhouse, where his admission was characterized as “destitute.” He was discharged in 1889, but ended up in a psychiatric asylum.
He died of gangrene on March 24, 1909. He was buried at East Ham Cemetery, east London three days later.
CBS News reported that former FBI agent John Douglas called the murders “lust crimes,” meaning the killer attacked the victims’ genital area. Douglas believed that this was his way of expressing his fantasies of dominance, cruelty, and mutilation.
