Jack the Ripper’s identity revealed after DNA match, historian says
NewsNation
Patrick Djordjevic
(NewsNation) — The infamous killer who terrorized London women has largely been referred to as simply “Jack the Ripper” until now.
Historian Russell Edwards says he has identified Jack the Ripper as Aaron Kosminski through a DNA match of a shawl found at the scene of one of his murders.
Kosminski was a Polish immigrant who came to Whitechapel, England, in 1881 alongside his brother. He became a barber once in the British capitol.
Edwards told the “Today Show Australia” that he came to purchase the shawl in 2007 after it was purported to be at the scene of the murder of Catherine Eddowes.
Kosminski, who was aged 23 at the time of the murders, has long been considered a suspect. He had schizophrenia and was in a mental asylum at the time of his death in 1919.
Thanks to Kosminski’s oldest brother’s great-great-granddaughter, the revelation was made after they provided a DNA sample.
Jack the Ripper has lived in infamy and lore for more than a century after he committed the murders of at least five women in Whitechapel between August and November of 1888.
Police never found Jack the Ripper, who was also referred to as the “Whitechapel Murderer” and the “Leather Apron.”
He was infamous for slitting the throat of his victims before removing the internal organs of at least three people.
Some of the victims have been thought to be prostitutes, but according to Penguin Books, there is little evidence to support this.
According to the Daily Mail, Edwards has hired a legal team to help gain an inquest after he found a 100% DNA match.
Descendants of both Eddowes and Kosminski have backed this move.
As he told “Today,” Edwards and his team have sent a letter to the attorney general requesting permission to go to Britain’s High Court for a further inquest.
The hope is that Kosminski can be legally tied to the murder.
“The name Jack the Ripper has become sensationalized. It has gone down in history as this famous character,” Karen Miller, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Eddowes, told the Mail.
“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.”
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Jack the Ripper Identity Possibly Confirmed With DNA Testing After 130 Years
While Jack the Ripper’s unsolved murders in London have fueled theories for over a century, the identity of the serial killer may soon be formally uncovered.
Researchers and descendants of Jack the Ripper’s victims are seeking to finally unmask the notorious killer.
Over 130 years after the serial killer committed numerous gruesome murders in impoverished areas of East London, England, descendants of his victims and Jack the Ripper researchers, including Russell Edwards, are calling on an inquest to formally hold Aaron Kosminski legally responsible for the crimes.
Kosminski, a Polish immigrant who died in 1919, was a prime suspect in the five murders—which took place in 1888—but was never charged in the case. As for how Kosminski is being re-linked to the crimes a century later? DNA found on a shawl retrieved from the crime scene of one of the killer’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, whose research led to the findings, told The Sun in an interview published Jan. 31. “This brings closure and a form of justice for the descendants.”
One of Eddowes’ descendants Karen Miller not only welcomes the findings but is looking for further investigation to make them official.
“We have the proof,” she told the Daily Mail Jan. 12. “Now we need this inquest to legally name the killer.”
Still, some experts have questioned the validity of the findings and cautioned against deeming them conclusive. Walther Parson, a forensic scientist at Austria’s Innsbruck Medical University, questioned the journal’s omission of genetic sequences belonging to Eddowes and Kosminski’s living relatives, which were replaced in the paper by a graphic indicating the alleged connection between the shawl and the modern DNA sequences.
“Otherwise,” he told Science.org in 2019 when the journal was first published, “the reader cannot judge the result.”
Hansi Weissensteiner, a scientist at Austria’s Innsbruck Medical University, also argued that the DNA studied can only rule culprits out rather than conclusively identifying one.
“Based on mitochondrial DNA,” he told the outlet, “one can only exclude a suspect.”
A legal team hired by Edwards is preparing to call for an inquest into the matter, he told The Sun.
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While Jack the Ripper’s unsolved murders in London have fueled theories for over a century, the identity of the serial killer may soon be formally uncovered.
Jack the Ripper mystery ‘solved’ as genetic link to suspect uncovered
Descendants push for inquest after DNA allegedly confirms the Ripper’s name.
A researcher claims to have solved the 136-year-old mystery of Jack the Ripper, revealing a “100 per cent” DNA match linking the infamous serial killer to a long-standing suspect.
Russell Edwards, who has spent years investigating the case, says DNA extracted from a bloodstained shawl found at the crime scene of one of the Ripper’s victims, Catherine Eddowes, matches that of Polish-born barber Aaron Kosminski.
“It’s very difficult to put into words the elation I felt when I saw the 100 per cent DNA match,” Edwards said. “This brings closure and a form of justice for the descendants.”
Kosminski has long been a prime suspect in the brutal murders of five women in London’s Whitechapel district between August and November 1888. The killer, who was never identified, terrorised Victorian England, mutilating his victims and earning the moniker that has since become one of history’s greatest mysteries.
Edwards, working alongside genealogists, traced a living relative of Kosminski, who agreed to provide a DNA sample. When tested against the genetic material found on the shawl, it reportedly yielded a match.
Now, the descendants of Eddowes and Kosminski are calling for an official inquest to legally confirm the killer’s identity.
“We have the proof,” said Karen Miller, a descendant of Eddowes. “Now we need this inquest to legally name the killer.”
The shawl, which was purchased at an auction in 2007, was believed to have been found near Eddowes’ body. Forensic analysis confirmed the presence of DNA from both the victim and Kosminski, further strengthening the case against him.
Kosminski, an immigrant from Poland, was known to suffer from mental illness and was eventually placed in an asylum, where he died in 1919.
While many historians and experts remain sceptical of DNA evidence from such an old crime scene, supporters of the breakthrough believe it marks a turning point in the case. Edwards has assembled a legal team to push for an inquest, arguing that modern forensic science has finally unmasked the Ripper.
Jack the Ripper’s reign of terror left London in a state of fear, prompting widespread criticism of the police’s failure to catch the killer. Numerous theories and suspects have emerged over the decades, including aristocrats, doctors, and even the American serial killer H.H. Holmes.
If accepted in court, Edwards’ findings could finally bring an end to one of history’s longest-running crime mysteries.
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