Jack the Ripper -- Identified at Last!?

It's the sort of news story that leaves the historical true crime buff absolutely bug-eyed: a researcher in Australia claims that in the next few weeks he may be able to name with scientific confidence the true identity of the most notorious murderer of all time: Jack the Ripper.

Australian Pathologist Ian Findlay of Griffith University in Queensland (formerly of Leeds University in northern England) has been working on a new DNA technique for years; as far back as 1997 he was speculating to reporters that the new technique could genetically identify Saucy Jack. Now he says the technique is perfected to the point that it can be used on any saliva left on the stamps that Jack the Ripper used to mail letters (and occasionally body parts of his victims) to the police. According to one news account, the letters in question are already on their way to Findlay's lab (though it is unclear whether all the necessary permissions have been secured and it's also unclear whether the necessary comparables from descendants of suspects are available).

I've posted a query on the message boards of the premier Ripper site -- The Casebook -- to try to find out more. Could it be.... ?

UPDATE: The Casebook website is alive with reaction to this news. Professor Findlay has kindly advised that the media reports are a tad bit exaggerated. That's too bad. On the other hand while reading all the interesting reactions and the emails I received I was reminded of something said by the late author John Fowles (who passed away this week) --

The psychological health of man needs mysteries -- not their solution.

And Twain, in a similar vein:

Some things you can't find out; but you will never know you can't by guessing and supposing: no, you have to be patient and go on experimenting until you find out that you can't find out. And it is delightful to have it that way, it makes the world so interesting. If there wasn't anything to find out, it would be dull. Even trying to find out and not finding out is just as interesting as trying to find out and finding out, and I don't know but more so.

Mark Twain, The Diary of Adam and Eve

Comments

[Christopher T. George]

Hello, Laura

As with Ms. Cornwell's investigation, I applaud the attempt to bring modern forensic techniques to our famous "cold case." The trouble is that Ms. Cornwell's assumption that the Ripper letters are from the killer ("90%" of such letters, as she has stated) makes for a very shaky hypothesis. The probability is that, as most of us who have studied the case agree, those letters didn't come from the killer. They were written by people wanting their 15 minutes of fame, just like "Wearside Jack" in the Yorkshire Ripper case -- and just as distracting.

It would be possible, yes, to make a DNA profile from the spittle used to lick a stamp on one or more of the envelopes, as Cornwell did, but most likely it would be the DNA of a letter hoaxer, not the killer. And then probably you would not have a control sample to compare it to, to know whose DNA it is, unless that is you want to go out on a limb and choose a suspect such as Walter Sickert, as Ms. Cornwell did, against the indications that the artist was totally innocent of the murders. Interesting, yes, but in the scheme of things, not too important in our study of the case.

All the best

Chris George
North American Editor
Ripperologist