One of humanity’s oldest mysteries has finally been solved, or at least solved to a 90% degree of certainty. According to English historian and author Russell Edwards, Jack the Ripper, who terrorized Victorian London’s East End in the late 1800s, was a 23-year-old Polish immigrant named Aaron Kosminski – who passed away in a mental institution in 1919. DNA from Kosminski was tested from a shawl recovered from the scene of one of the killer’s brutal killings. But critics argue that the evidence isn’t strong enough to declare this case officially closed.
Between 1888 and 1891, Jack the Ripper viciously raped and murdered five women, the majority of whom were prostitutes (sex workers), in and around London’s Whitechapel neighborhood. Mary Nichols (age 43), Annie Chapman (age 47), Elizabeth Stride (age 44), Catherine Eddowes (age 46), and Mary Jane Kelly (age 25) were the unfortunate victims. Shockingly, the internal organs of three of them were removed and historians even believe the death toll may have been higher.
According to Edwards, Kosminski was a barber in Whitechapel after moving to England as a young boy. Interestingly enough, he began exhibiting signs of mental illness and had been admitted to multiple insane asylums. Kosminski claimed to have experienced auditory hallucinations before his passing at the age of 53.
This isn’t the first time Kosminski has been linked to the crimes. Jari Louhelainen, a biochemist at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom, performed the first genetic tests on shawl samples several years ago, but he stated that he wanted to hold off on submitting the results until after the commotion lessened. The commotion refers to the controversy and intense public and scientific scrutiny surrounding Louhelainen’s initial genetic analysis of a shawl allegedly linked to Jack the Ripper; Geneticists questioned the scientific rigor of Louhelainen’s methods and conclusions, with some calling his study “unpublishable nonsense”. In a 2014 book titled ‘Naming Jack the Ripper’, author Russell Edwards, who purchased the shawl in 2007 and gave it to Louhelainen, used the unpublished test results to prove Kosminski was the murderer.
In their paper identifying Jack the Ripper, the scientists explain how the DNA from the shawl was extracted and amplified. The mitochondrial DNA fragments recovered from the shawl were compared to samples obtained from Edwards and Kosminski’s living descendants. Mitochondrial DNA is the part of DNA that is inherited exclusively from one’s mother. In the Journal of Forensic Sciences, they conclude that the DNA matches that of a living relative of Kosminski. Additionally, according to the analysis, the murderer had brown eyes and hair, which is consistent with the eyewitness’s testimony. In their paper, the authors acknowledge that “these characteristics are surely not unique.” However, the researchers point out that blue eyes are now more prevalent than brown ones in England.
The identification of Aaron Kosminski as Jack the Ripper offers a likely suspect but remains controversial. While the evidence aligns with historical records, critics argue that it is not conclusive enough to definitively close the case. The debate continues, leaving the mystery partially solved but still open to scrutiny. The question is still open for true crime buffs to ponder, who is Jack the Ripper?
