It is one of the longest lasting mysteries in the serial killer world. Five woman were brutally murdered over the course of Autumn in 1888 in London’s Whitechapel district. The killer would come to be known as the infamous Jack The Ripper, his identity never determined. Until now.
Using modern forensic science, Dr. Jari Louhelainen, a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology and Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Helsinki in Finland, found that there were two types of DNA on the shawl of Catherine Eddowes, one of the Ripper’s victims. There was hers and there was also DNA that is reportedly from the killer.
The shawl was purchased by Russell Edwards, a businessman, who enlisted Dr. Louhelainen to analyze it. Dr. Louhelainen then compared the DNA to the DNA of Eddowes descendants as well as the suspects in the murder investigation. This is how he came to find the Ripper’s identification: Aaron Kosminski, a Polish-born hairdresser who lived in Whitechapel and was ultimately committed to an asylum.
The Ripper’s case has drawn the fascination of artists, writers, and filmmakers throughout the years. Films such as A Study In Terror and From Hell tackled the topic.
The full process by which this information was recovered can be found at Daily Mail.
