Did you know that at the time of Jack the Ripper’s crimes, some people even theorized it was a female, ie Jill the Ripper? Jill is my name so I think that’s kind of funny. I imagine they chose Jill instead of Jane or something because ‘Jill’ also can mean a girl, just as Jack can mean a guy or some such.
Anyways, I’m getting away from what I wanted to talk about which is this book I have been reading by Patricia Cornwell called ‘Portrait of a Killer – Jack the Ripper Case Closed’. It is a very compelling read (read it Ursula!). I am only about 2/3’s through the novel and it has already been proven that an artist by the name of Sickert wrote many of the Ripper letters (by matching the actual paper to batches of 24). Of course that doesn’t prove he was the Ripper. She is building the case though, using brick after brick after brick of circumstantial evidence. As one of her mentors states in one part of the book, a coincidence and a coincidence and a coincidence is no longer a coincidence.
Although they do have a fingerprint from one of the rather incriminating Ripper letters they do not have one from Sickert to match it to. Sickert is a respected artist of the late 18th century. Many of his supporters scoff at the idea of him being the Ripper. Thus much useful evidence such as fingerprints that may exist in paint on his artwork have not been availed to the investigators.
They also have mitochodrial DNA from some of the envelopes which is not inconsistent with mitochondrial DNA from some of Sickert’s letters to other people. However they have no nuclear DNA as of yet.
And here’s the annoying part. Since the Ripper files were unsealed in 2002 a large percentage of the files and documents have gone missing! Apparently some less-than-admirable sorts on the police force or otherwise have taken them and they no doubt now reside in the hands of private collectors.
I truly recommend the book. It is very well written. It does not dumb it down in the scientific portions of the book – well it probably does somewhat but it gives a lot of detailed information in the appropriate jargon.
Read it, tell me what you think!
